Konoha: At His Fingertips
by MegaB
Summary: Bereft of dreams, adrift in the World, what's a guy to do when his life comes crashing down? Seize it in his hands of course! Big pieces begin to move and Naruto makes his decision; this is his World, Dattebayo!
1. Upside down

**Konoha: At His Fingertips** _by MegaB_

Chapter 1: Fire Shadow Shun

"Team 15, reporting for duty, Godaime-Sama!"

Danzou preened internally; oh how he loved it when Shinobi deferred before him! He was _the_ leader of _the_ most powerful hidden Village on the continent. You couldn't get much better than that.

"At ease, my soldiers. I have a mission for you!" He replied with gusto. The lead Jounin gave him a strange look but Danzou only revelled within it. He was obviously awed by his magnanimous presence!

"It is an S-Rank mission I feel only you four may pull off. Such is my opinion of your skill. Now where has that scroll gotten to…"

Danzou proceeded to search around the room hurriedly. His ninja tried to hide their impatience but it wasn't as if their esteemed leader would notice anyway. A solitary pop announced the presence of one of Danzou's elite group.

'Neé', or 'Root' had been merged with the Village ninja. The first thing Danzou had done upon his election to the post of Godaime Hokage was to dissolve the ANBU into the mainstream Shinobi forces, and replace their old position with his own loyal troops. This had had two far reaching effects; one, the success rate of E-A Rank missions had sky-rocketed and two, the failure rate of S-Ranks had done the same.

Which became a cause for concern. So Danzou, being who he was, decided that the only way to rectify the situation was to give the normal Shinobi more S-Rank missions and his elite Root more E-As. This effectively, totally destroyed the equilibrium that had been painstakingly established by the previous Hokages, yet with the Sannin living their own lives and the most influential of the Jounin practically melted into the shadows, Danzou did what he wanted.

Leaving an unstable, psychotic, elderly man to make decisions for a military force must have been the worst idea anyone could have thought up. Then again, the village council was mainly made up of unstable, psychotic, elderly people so there really was nobody to stop him. Evidence for this was in the very room Danzou was addressing after finally finding the missing mission scroll.

"Aha! Here it is! You! Jounin-san, are to lead your team to Yusata bridge and rout one of Oto's rebel forces led by a red-haired woman known only as "Karin". I order you to attack from the bridge surface, is that clear?"

Danzou smirked smugly; how he loved being Hokage!

"But sir," the Jounin replied, "wouldn't it be better to approach from a more…hidden direction, like under the bridge? We need the element of surprise against these numbers."

It was a statement of how stupid Konoha's forces regarded their leader as being that they didn't even question an S-Rank mission being given to a team of three Chuunin and a Jounin.

Danzou tried to look as wise as possible.

"Nagumo-San, I have survived two Great Shinobi Wars. I have been Hokage for two years now. Are you claiming that you understand strategy more than I?"

"My name is Nayako," he gritted his teeth when he replied; how many times did he have to say it to get this nutcase to remember his name? "No, I'm not claiming anything of the sort Hokage-Sama. It's just I don't want any of my team mates to die. Going straight in where there might be an ambush is _not _the best idea."

"Thank you for your concern Naiko-"

"It's Nayako!"

"As I was saying Nayakamakamano-San-"

"THAT'S NOT EVEN A NAME!"

"Be that as it may, those are my orders, I fully expect them to be carried out to the dot. Now, Root Soldier, what have you to say?"

The Neé operative who had been standing quietly by, glanced around the room surreptitiously. There were 'Leaves' in the room, it wouldn't do to give out potentially classified information to them.

"What are you waiting for man? Speak!"

The operative straightened his back and Nayako almost saw the look of complete obedience behind the agent's mask.

"Danzou-Sama, as per your orders this morning, I have been trailing Uchiha Shisui all day."

Danzou began to sweat; what had he ordered that morning? Something to do with this Shisui person. Uchiha! That was it! He needed another Sharingan to add to his collection. The red and black eyes were so pretty!

"I see, and what have you to report?"

The operative stole another sceptical glance at the four-man cell beside him before continuing.

"I can confirm that he does not have a blue teddy bear on his person. There was no sign of a rebellion led by Brolly the Blue Teddy Bear."

Danzou panicked internally. Were his Shinobi going mad? A _blue teddy bear?_ What did that have to do with ANYTHING?

"Root-San. Why were you looking for a blue teddy bear?"

Anger began to rise in him as Yukata-San looked like he was laughing. The Root Agent looked like he didn't want to say what was going on. This was making him look stupid in front of his own men!

"Hurry up! I asked you a question soldier!" What was it with these imbeciles and insubordination today?

"Err, those were your orders this morning Danzou-Sama. Investigate Uchiha Shisui and a possible uprising by Brolly the Blue Teddy Bear which should be stored, hidden somewhere on his person."

If Danzou was surprised before, he was freaking out now. He couldn't fathom giving out any such orders. Outwardly, however, he stroked his chin, remembering just in time to avoid the bandages covering his left eye. It wouldn't do to show them _that._

"I see. You have done well today Root-san. You are dismissed." The Root operative popped out immediately.

The Jounin looked at him funny again. This was annoying him.

"What did I just say? YOU ARE DISMISSED!"

"I thought you were talking to the Root guy, Hokage-Sama."

"I was referring to all of you!"

The Jounin looked hesitant.

"But you addressed him directly- never mind, we'll just be leaving Godaime-Dono."

Danzou nodded imperiously as the four-man team walked out the door. Now what was this business with the Uchiha and Brolly the Blue Teddy Bear? He hoped it wasn't another attempt at a coup d'état. Hadn't they learned their lesson last time they tried to overthrow Konoha?

Danzou had somehow totally forgotten that there were a grand total of three Uchiha left in Konoha anyway. Not that he cared, however.

Konoha, was truly suffering in the grip of the Senile old Warhawk.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Mitarashi Anko was quite possibly the most eccentric female Jounin to ever grace the laurels of Konoha's Shinobi force. She technically wasn't even a Jounin for a reason nobody could really understand. She had more successfully completed missions under her belt than almost every other Ninja in the Village; very few could even claim such an achievement.

Now just because her enemies tended to die gruesome and absurd deaths didn't mean anything.

The years had not been kind to her however. She reflected on the state of her life as she slouched down the middle of a busy merchant district at the heart of the Village, hands shoved deep into the pockets of her cream-coloured trench coat, purple irises lazily tracking anything that so much as twitched in her vicinity. Her best friends of a few years ago had drifted away leaving her stranded between wanting them back and fulfilling her job. The situation, she decided, had taken a turn for the worst.

Something needed to be done, and she'd had enough of sitting on her figurative backside and moaning about it. She was an action-woman damn it! Not some silly damsel in distress. If something didn't do what she wanted, she'd damn well kick it in the nuts.

Hatake Kakashi was her main grievance. The silver-haired Jounin had thrown himself back into his career even though he'd practically denounced it only three years ago. Hadn't he been the one to remove his blood-stained mask because he couldn't take it anymore?

She snorted derisively, eye-balling the pedestrians who turned to stare at her quizzically. He was suicidal, that guy, taking S-Rank after S-Rank and coming back looking more haunted than a ghost.

You couldn't get much more haunted than that, she pondered, it was a ghost after all and they were the ones _doing_ the haunting!

And why was that random dude looking at her like she's crazy or something?

Ignoring the rude bystander, she continued lethargically on her way to her destination. So Kakashi was a nutcase, what else was new? Naruto had all but disappeared; her heart twanged painfully at the thought of the blond. She had many regrets over that little kid…

Jiraiya had kept them posted, and by "them" she meant her and Shisui. The perverted Sannin had searched high and low for the last of their group, only to almost give up through a lack of clues. That Gama-no-Jiraiya, spymaster extraordinaire, couldn't even manage a whisper on a person's whereabouts…

Shisui had woken up two years ago, lacking energy, a slightly suspicious outlook of the world in general, but mainly the same guy as he was before he'd decided to go to sleep and not wake up for a almost a whole year. Anko had slapped him before hugging him. She'd then realised that he'd fallen unconscious again to her great mortification. Tsunade had thrown her out after that; it was still the butt of a good many jokes between them.

Shisui's aunt had decided that since old Sarutobi was no longer there to prevent her, she'd regained her status as an elite Jounin and began to take missions once again. The Uchihas were happy, Shisui was happy, all was right with the world!

….except everything else.

She sighed tiredly, breaching the entrance to a random cafeteria she and Shisui had picked as today's meeting spot. She made a beeline for the table with the messy black bed head sticking over the brim of a crumpled newspaper in the far corner. She slid into a chair in front of him and retrieved the scroll that was the reason for their rendezvous from the folds of her jacket. Twirling over her right hand expertly, she smirked before speaking.

"And the Snake-mistress does it again. You're losing quite badly Shisui-kun."

Sharingan eyes flashed dangerously as the morning's paper lowered ever so slightly.

"Ohohoho, going for deadly this time huh?"

"Oh shut up Anko. Don't get so stuck-up just because nobody cares enough about you to think you're a threat!"

Anko squawked indignantly.

"I'll have you know that it's my amazing stealth skills that grant me success thank you very much!"

"Like painting the Raikage's face with Omni-Paint?"

Anko glared. That was a low blow. Shisui chuckled as he placed the newspaper atop the rickety café table. He extended his fist and the two tapped knuckles.

"What you got?" He leaned forward expectantly. Anko unrolled the scroll and peered at its contents.

"Says here that they 'believe' he's been spotted at some random town near the border to Kumo. It was a civ-sighting though, so we can't be sure."

Shisui groaned. And here he'd thought they had something substantial at last.

"Where the heck did you find that? I told you to grab it from Danzou's office, not the rumour mill's bin!"

Anko waved a hand airily.

"That's not the point Shisui."

Shisui glanced at her nervously. "Where…did you really pick that up from?"

Anko blanched and hid her face behind the unfurled parchment.

"Ok, so it was the bin! The HOKAGE'S bin! Who cares where Danzou sticks his classified information? I don't mind as long as we end up getting it!"

"I thought you were about to say he stuck it up his-"

"SHUT UP!"

The pair were garnering many funny looks at this point, not that they paid it any heed.

"No, but seriously, Danzou stores classified scrolls _**in the bin?**_"

Anko groaned audibly.

"Tell me about it," she muttered, "at least he could make an effort to be an actual leader now that he has the post. Instead we're being whittled away little by little."

Shisui laughed. It was a depressing situation indeed that he could find mirth in it.

"Let me see that," he reached over and plucked the Classified from his friend's hands. Studying it intensely for a few minutes, he gave a start before looking up at Anko who had been peering at him inquisitively.

"Wait a minute. Anko, didn't Jiraiya last say that he thought he'd gone to Kumo and that it was the only explanation what with their media blackout?"

Anko grumbled under her breath before answering.

"That's just speculation and you know it. Even Suna have been ignoring us ever since that Tanuki brat became Kazekage! Is it just me or does Naruto have too many friends in high places?"

Shisui laughed uproariously.

"That's supposed to be a _good _thing! Hahaha!"

Anko gave in and chuckled with him for a moment before they fell into an uncomfortable silence. After a couple of minutes, Shisui raised his courage to break it.

"So we're following it then?"

His companion shrugged.

"It's the only thing we have to go on. We might find him and then- and then…"

"And then we can go save 'Kashi from himself." Anko finished his sentence for him. Shisui looked down desperately. Anko stood abruptly. She took a deep breath.

"I'm in. Forever and always."

Shisui grinned.

"Let's bring 'em back home."

XXXXXXXXXXX

In a modest-sized store, complete with full-length glass-pane windows, spectacular lights and weapons everywhere, a doorbell chimed pleasantly.

Higurashi TenTen, formerly 'just TenTen' perked up as the front door to Higurashi's Weapons Store flew open. It was her very own store now, hers and hers alone. She'd had to give up her Chuunin status, that was true, but she still trained every day. In the end, Naoto-san's bestowing of Higurashi inheritance upon her was so incredibly touching and meaningful that she'd decided to honour it over her own dreams.

So here she stood, facing her old team mates, who had for some unexplained reason, decided to drop by.

"TenTen! How Youthfully spiffing it is to see you once again!"

TenTen's eyebrows rose gracefully. "Gai-Sensei, what have you been teaching him now?"

The ever-boisterous Rock Lee strode into the store's interior, bowl-cut shining, leg-weights clinking and a huge smile stretching his face. Behind him came an almost identical copy, yet much taller Maito Gai, and following up the rear was the stoic Hyuuga Neji, who, amazingly, actually smiled as he stared around the shop of blessedly pointy things.

Her old team, she breathed mentally.

"Nonsense TenTen! You have no need to call me Sensei any longer! I have been telling you this for years now!"

TenTen smiled contentedly as she hopped down from her seat behind the counter at the back of the store, chocolate hair swinging, eyes alight with warmth. She was a changed girl, she'd accepted what she was, where she'd come from and how much of a brat she'd been. She'd wondered for a couple of years now how Naruto had even put up with her…

"You'll always be a Sensei to me Gai-Sensei."

The man positively _beamed_. Bad idea girl.

"How's the store coming along?"

"He TALKS!" TenTen placed a hand over her chest and used the other to fan herself at Neji's question. The Hyuuga rolled his eyes, Gai and Lee laughing wholeheartedly as they moved down the aisles to the body weights section.

"Yes, you'd find I do."

"Miracles do happen, huh?" She grinned.

"Indeed, by the name of Uzumaki Naruto."

They shifted uneasily at that. Too many depressing memories attached to a name. She scrabbled for something else to talk about, alighting on the first topic that came to mind.

"How's Hinata?" She enquired hurriedly. It was as if life was suddenly poured into the Hyuuga's body; his head rose, his eyes began to sparkle, which was a tad disturbing in the presence of the two _very sparkly_ people.

"Fine. Better even. She responds to her name now, but we can't get her to stop sucking her thumbs. Hiashi-Sama is getting mildly impatient."

TenTen glared. "Make sure he remembers who's the cause of the situation in the first place then."

Neji nodded happily, not allowing TenTen's ire to affect his good mood in the slightest.

"As I do. Every day in fact."

TenTen giggled.

"Good."

They fell into a companionable silence, each left to their own thoughts. TenTen began to reminisce over Hinata's status these past few years. Tsunade had rescued her and an Uchiha from the infamous Ward 18 of Konoha's Central Hospital two years prior. Both had been kept on some kind of anaesthetic that induced unconsciousness for large periods of time. To what end, no-one actually knew, but Tsunade-Sama and Jiraiya-Sama believed it was something to do with their incompetent leader. Hinata had woken up to find her family staring at her, lost and having no idea how to handle a relative they'd all thought dead actually regaining her senses and waking up before them.

Of course, it would have been a difficult scenario _if_ she could recognise it as such. Instead, her more than six years of sleep had meant her psyche had not only stopped maturing, but had also regressed. It was almost as if a two-year-old was inhabiting a fourteen-year-old's body. She'd slowly regained limb coordination and she had begun to speak, no sign of her mental stimuli that had led her to attempt suicide at the age of six beyond not allowing anyone to touch her without crying for a night and day.

Neji had been overjoyed to have his cousin back. Finding strength in Naruto's words from their fight, he too had begun to change, as had the Hyuuga as a whole.

It was disconcerting to see a family who prided themselves in austerity, actually acting like a family for once.

TenTen slipped past Neji and decided to see what Lee and Gai-Sensei were doing. It had been awkward when she'd turned in her Hitai-ite. There'd been a few months where they hadn't known what to say to each other, any of them, but that had broken when TenTen had sent them presents from the store for all the years they'd been with her.

Lee and Gai-Sensei had gone nuts over the Chakra weights…

"This one!"

She turned the corner to find the teacher and student staring at the rack of Knuckle-Dusters with stars in their eyes. She groaned internally; this would not end well. At least she'd make a lot of money today.

Lee rounded on her.

"TenTen! My beautiful team mate! Are these new?" The gangly Taijutsu Chuunin pointed at the shiny Chakra-repellent Knuckle-duster's taking up centre-piece on the aisle behind him. She nodded.

"Yes Lee, they are. I haven't tested them, but it said on the box that they are Chakraphobic."

Their eyes practically _glowed._

"Chakraphobic you say?" Gai began to stroke his chin animatedly. "As in, I could punch through a Jutsu and not be hurt?"

"That's the idea," TenTen confirmed, "but I wouldn't go trusting them all the way Sensei. Remember, there's a lot more of your body that needs protection than just your fists in that sort of situation."

Gai shook his head as he turned to glance at his mini-me of a student.

"Lee! What do you think?"

Rock Lee wasn't called Rock Lee for nothing.

"I'LL BUY THE WHOLE SHELF!"

"LEE THAT IS AN EXCELLENT IDEA!"

"YOSH! LET US BRING OUR TAIJUTSU TO NEW HEIGHTS WITH THESE WEAPONS!"

TenTen couldn't help but grin. Next time, she'd be sure to stock up on extra of the latest Taijutsu goods. It was good for business.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Wind, Rain and Leaves. That was all he could see. Then again, travelling at the speed he was, it was a surprise he could see anything at all.

Travelling in a circle, he corrected himself. Spinning round-and-round actually.

The tap to his person came as he knew it would, signalling that it was time to stop. How does one stop spinning at almost five rotations a second?

Ferocious winds picked up around his body, his Chakra spiking along his limbs, forcing his body to a stop. The ground began to tear, buckle and smoke as he almost drilled right into it. He eventually came to a halt, sweat pouring from his forehead and plastering his shirt to his back. He was a sight to see, sitting in a small crater of earth with smoke curling over his limbs, almost caressing him in its tainted, stinking embrace.

His head rose to acknowledge his Sensei of two years. The man was hopping from foot-to-foot with a manic look in his eyes. He breathed out slowly.

Looks like he'd finally done it then. He reached up to brush his blond hair from his eyes. Fourteen years and still cracking. That was him, the one and only Uzumaki Naruto!

His exhilarating thoughts ground to an abrupt halt as a stick smashed his head into the ground. He moaned; the damn man was mute, but so aggressive!

He leapt to his feet in consternation.

"Jiji! I've had enough of you hitting me around like some ping-pong ball! You're gonna pay for that!"

What ensued, was the most comical chase known to mankind. The citizens of the beach town Mori turned to stare as a teenager chased after a shrunken old man with a bent back and yet could not catch him. Jutsu after Jutsu tore after the man, but the old guy simply avoided them as if they were petals he didn't quite like falling upon him.

The chase, suddenly turned race, took to the rooftops, the passers-by simply chuckling at the familiar scene. Sensei stopped on a certain house and flopped bonelessly to the ground, his stick clattering next to him. Naruto reached the surface a few moments later, only to find the man patting the roof beside him. He smiled and sat beside him, turning his eyes to gaze up at the stars.

It had been two years, two years since he had awoken in an unfamiliar room, bandaged so meticulously from head-to-toe that he couldn't see through his eyes.

They'd been bandaged too.

Of course, he could have rectified that problem if his arms hadn't been practically stuck to his sides with the very same restriction aid. After a few days of someone, he had no idea who, feeding him some weird tasting glob of stuff, he finally glimpsed his mysterious saviour.

It was an old man. An old, withered man, who was slightly insane. And that was putting it mildly.

He lived alone in a cottage a good ways away from the Village of Mori. Mori was a town situated very close to the border of Kumo and Hi, decked with beautiful beaches nobody seemed to use, green pastures smothered with stinky manure and houses that reminded him that builders should be the one to build houses.

Not crazy people like Sensei.

He did not know his real name, the man couldn't speak, write nor read. At least he could understand speech, at least Naruto thought he did…

After a period of awkwardness, where Naruto couldn't really move, the old guy had helped him for a couple of weeks. Only to catch him in his old habit of twirling things around his hand with Wind-Chakra. Naruto was very surprised to hear a loud squeak from the entrance to the cottage that had become his home. He pictured the scene now, chuckling under his breath at how Sensei had acted. It was as if the man's birthday had come early.

And then it was surprise after surprise. Naruto firmly thought that nothing could shock him anymore. It turned out that the old guy knew a lot about Shinobi, not just a lot, but he knew more about the techniques than most anyone else. The strange thing was, he couldn't actually do anything with that knowledge since he was a civilian.

What progressed from there, was possibly the most absurd relationship formed on the face of the earth.

Sensei would attempt to 'help' with his training. Being mute and illiterate made it only slightly difficult.

_Only slightly._

He would attempt to give tips and explanations through gestures and guttural sounds accompanied with crude drawings. Naruto would interpret it in a way and eventually work out what the guy was talking about. Most of the time, he ended up learning something so outlandish that he was certain the man had not meant that at all.

But Sensei would be totally over the moon about it. Why? He had absolutely no idea. Did teachers become happy when their students learnt something they weren't even trying to teach?

Sensei would always dance with his stick at that time. The weirdest dance you'd never seen to be sure.

An almost weightless arm settled over his shoulders and he gazed sideways at the old male beside him. It was nice, he decided, to be able to sit here with someone who had no expectations of him, knew little about him and yet able to provide him a home and food and treat him as family would. At least, this was what Naruto thought family would do; he wouldn't know, he was a bit short in the family department.

His life hadn't really changed drastically since leaving Konoha. He was deathly afraid that the homicidal Uchiha scion would eventually catch up to him and kill everyone around. They'd both been injured terribly in that battle, but Naruto had no doubt that if he'd managed to survive, than so had the Uchiha. He shivered unconsciously. He'd been beaten up so bad then, it was a wonder he hadn't died. It'd taken him almost a whole month to recover.

He'd made a lot of friends in Mori, nowhere near the level as his old crew but hey, a guy takes what he can get!

He missed them, missed them so much. He didn't know what was worse, not being able to talk to them, see them, laugh with them like he used to or not knowing whether he would die in the next moment should the psychotic red-eyed guy turn up on Sensei's doorstep. His heart clenched with anguish. _Why did he have to run away?_

He couldn't face them, not now, not after abandoning them right after a freaking _invasion_. He'd thrown their trust away. All this time he'd thought he was the one with the short straw, he was the one that had lived an unacceptable life. But that was arrogance. Arrogance and petulance. It wasn't what happened in the past that mattered, it was how you were living the present.

And then he'd gone and done the same thing he'd accused Sarutobi-Jiji of! His throat constricted and a sort of sob leapt from it. The arm tightened around his shoulders imperceptibly. He looked up hesitantly but Sensei was smiling at him, not the stupid, goofy smiles he usually had. This one was a genuine, soft and understanding curve of the lips.

Naruto breathed out slowly. He would just have to handle being apart from them for the rest of his life. They'd never accept his excuses anyway. Madara would kill them.

He wasn't short on friends in Mori. He had his own crew here, and they were all his age. Some people thought them a gang, but Naruto knew differently. They were allies of justice!

So what if they caused the problems in the first place? As long as they fixed it in the end, right?

He gazed up at the heavens, the scatters of silver stars sometimes broken by spots of red and brilliant, semi-translucent nebulae stretching the horizon. He was like one of them, a lone star burning its way out until it blinked from existence; never to be remembered except for the brief moments of blazing glory left in its wake. It was a beautiful metaphor and how apt.

He would keep living in the present, discarding his past no matter where he ended up in the world.

Because that's what he did best.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Sooooooo…The start of another epic. I'm really excited about this people! Let's see it from you too! Let me just say that this was my most favourite chapter for a long, loooooooong while! I hope you all enjoy it more than you did KNP!

Because it's only just the beginning!

Welcome, to KaHF!


	2. Face Two

**Konoha: At His Fingertips** _by MegaB_

Chapter 2: Face Two

"I spot, two…no, make that three," Anko whispered softly, brushing a stray leaf from her hair.

Shisui nodded slowly, double-checking with his Sharingan to confirm that there were, in fact, only three Root ANBU guarding the main gate out of the Village. The plan had been to avoid contact with any Shinobi that may have been on patrol, but upon finding their route blocked, they had no choice but to either engage the guards or find an alternative path, neither of which they wanted to compromise this early in the proceedings.

Shisui twitched as his Sharingan faded to black irises.

"This isn't going to work. We need some way to get around them."

Anko nodded silently, biting her lip in consternation as they crouched, masking their Chakra levels within the brush ringing the Village. After a brief moment of silence, she scratched her thighs and gazed up at the night's moon.

"I say we just bust in there and take them down."

Shisui groaned.

"And for the last time, that's not going to work. The last thing we need is Danzou finding out we've snuck out right under his nose without his permission."

Anko huffed. "Ok, then we need a distraction or something."

Shisui sighed. Looks like there was nothing else for it. Standing silently, he pushed a branch aside and made to step forward only to have a strong hand seize his collar and pull him into an adjacent bush. Another palm clapped over his mouth before he could make a sound.

"Shhh!" His captor hissed. "You just said the last thing you wanted was a confrontation, you idiot!"

The Uchiha survivor found that he was free to move his head, even if he couldn't speak over the fist stuck into his mouth. He gazed at the person holding him, only to find blonde hair in swinging pig-tails, and a green coat fluttering in the wind.

"Mmph!"

"You have to promise you won't make noise before I let you go, kiddo," she was laughing at him, damn her! He nodded quickly.

"Good," she said as she released him. He turned to find Jiraiya holding Anko similarly, though his hand was straying to places that he really shouldn't be touching. A dull 'Oof' sounded as he was kicked in the nether regions, the Toad Sage crumpling to nothing more than quivering mush beside them. Shisui sighed again and turned to the only sane one beside himself in his vicinity.

"Why are you here? I thought Jiraiya was out looking for Naruto," He asked immediately. Tsunade grinned.

"You didn't think you'd sneak out looking for Naruto without us finding out, did you? Jiraiya's search didn't turn up much" She smiled warmly. Shisui shook his head in resignation. He really should have seen it coming; somehow, the two Sannin had their eyes and ears everywhere in Konoha, moreso than the Hokage even.

"Actually, we were planning on getting out without _anyone _knowing, but I guess we can't do much about it now."

"Too right, you can't! You have a lead on his whereabouts."

It wasn't even a question.

"Yeah, otherwise we wouldn't be leaving would we?" He smirked.

"Don't get smart with me brat!"

Her frown dissolved into a slightly amused façade after hearing her own words.

"At any rate, you have a problem with those guards up there. Do you have a plan for it?"

Shisui scratched his temple idly. "Nah, we thought they wouldn't bother this late at night, especially with how Root has been acting recently. But there they are, I guess. We were going to crank some kinda distraction and slip passed-"

"Good, we can do that for you. Oh, stop crying Jiraiya! It's your own damned fault!" She strode over to her downed friend and kicked him for good measure. The man groaned and rolled onto his back, glaring balefully at the purple-haired woman who returned his stare whole-heartedly.

"Did you have to do that?" He whined pitifully.

"Next time you try something like that, I'll have a snake do it instead," Anko hissed through clenched teeth. "Same place too. _With fangs_." Jiraiya paled considerably and scooted away from her as far as he could go and not poke from the greenery they were hiding in.

"N-No need to go that far, Anko. I was joking! Only joking!" He stammered.

Anko smiled maliciously before turning to regard the other two.

"What will you be doing after you get us through?"

Tsunade bobbed her head in acknowledgement. "We're going to hit Mikazuki Medical. I don't know what's going on there, but the events of these last few years have all pointed to it as Danzou's front for control over the Village. Some weird stuff has been happening recently, and Ward 18 was just the tip of the iceberg," she sent a significant look Shisui's way at that statement.

Shisui moved to the edge of the clearing and peeked out at the guards who were standing like statues in a neat row in front of the gatehouse. Née were so very strange.

"Alright, how we gonna handle this then? Have you got something in mind?" He asked.

"Don't you worry about that. Let's just say that someone will be having a very…amphibious surprise." Jiraiya chortled at his own words.

A trio of 'Urks!" sounded in the still air, and the four Shinobi looked on as the gate guards collapsed in a heap. Shisui was the only one to spot the tiny dart frogs leaping away from the bodies. He looked back at Jiraiya with a single eyebrow raised.

"Frogs? I thought you summon toads?"

Jiraiya chuckled languidly. "You noticed hmm? I called in a couple of favours from some distant relatives of old Gamabunta. Those little troublemakers are going to go and attack random people to leave a nice, clear trail behind them.

"Don't worry," he smiled, "their poison is very easy to counteract, and not very toxic at all, or at least, that's what Tsunade tells me."

Tsunade nudged her friend and turned to regard the other two.

"All hospitals have standard anti-venoms for the more common poisons and dart-frog toxin is one of them. Now you two need to get going before someone comes to check on those guys."

Shisui nodded, silently in awe at the amount of thought the two Sannin had put into the operation already.

"Right. Shall we, Anko?"

And as the wind blew, the four figures disappeared, almost as silently as the leaves fluttering upon the wind.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Hokage's chambers of Hokage tower were usually very busy throughout the day. Missions were not specifically handed out by the Hokage unless they had vital importance, or were top secret, and yet when a team completed a mission, it was the first place they stopped for debriefing.

In the case of Danzo's regime, nobody actually _wanted_ to stop there, unless they were insane themselves, or they were Née operatives, otherwise it was an unspoken rule for everyone else to avoid the place like the plague.

No-one actually knew if Danzo's dementia was contagious or not. They would rather not find out either.

So it was that a head-bandaged old War-hawk lifted his head to survey the latest group to enter his domain.

Make that one-man group.

"Ahh, Nayakamakomano-san, I trust you and your team were successful in your mission hmm?" he groused, totally failing to notice the large wound across the right side of the Jounin's forehead swathed in bandages. His limp was overly pronounced and he was visibly restraining his total vilification of the Village leader if only because of the man's position.

"Well? Speak up! My plans are always perfect as you now know."

Iwai Nayako seemed to disagree with this statement.

"_Success?_" He hissed, his left eye squinting in rage. "The only success we had was **losing all my team!**"

There was a stiff moment of silence whereupon the Godaime Hokage stood unbelieving of his subordinate.

"Come now, Nakumo-"

"_**Would you shut the hell up for a minute you damn wrinkly butt-head?"**_

For the second time in a single meeting, Danzo was completely and utterly shocked.

"_Excuse me, Jounin-san? Do you know who I am?"_

Nayako took a huge, labouring breath before turning away from his hated leader.

"They all died. All three of them. And it was all because of your stupid idea to rush the bridge head-on. I don't know who died and made you leader, but hell…you're killing us."

Danzo had never felt so angry in his life. It was preposterous; some little, green-eared _boy_ claiming to know better than he? Better than the Village's tactician and espionage expert for more than sixty years? It was his turn to show anger.

"Remove this raving lunatic at once! He has clearly been touched in the head by his ordeal! Take him to the hospital and have a psychiatrist examine him!"

His two bodyguards appeared, grabbed Nayako, and disappeared with no words between them. Root knew how to keep their deranged General happy. Of course, by leaving him with no-one to watch over him, there remained a huge gaping security hole.

One that a certain Uchiha had been waiting for.

Melting smoothly from the shadows, he stood before the Godaime Hokage, his old bone-white ANBU mask fixed over his face, Sharingan ablaze and coattails flapping from the breeze passing through an open window.

Danzo startled heavily. He had disbanded the ANBU, hadn't he? He was sure none of those dreaded, frightening masks existed anymore. How they terrified him so.

"W-Who are you?"

Uchiha Itachi swiftly removed his mask, falling to a single knee with fluidity nary seen amongst the ranks of Shinobi of all five major countries.

"Danzo-Sama, I have returned as per the Sandaime's request upon completion of my secondary mission. My clues have dried up and I have come seeking further information."

It was almost the longest two sentences he had uttered in many years. It felt…foreign.

"_U-Uchiha Itachi!_" Danzo squeaked. "Guards! Arrest him now!"

But of course, he had only just sent them away. Itachi's gaze never wavered as he considered the ex-elder.

"Danzo-Sama, you would arrest one of your own?" His voice was like silk.

"You are no Shinobi! You are a murderer! We shall dispose of you yet, traitor!"

Itachi moved so fast, it was as if he had been holding his Chokuto to the chapping white skin of Danzo's neck the entire time.

"I have come seeking information. I will not be killed by my own kin."

And then he released his Chakra, and such a force and pressure it was that Danzo screamed pitifully, his eyeballs rolling back in their sockets and his bowels releasing their contents.

Itachi stepped back and swiftly sheathed his blade. He stared, unblinking at the shrivelled man who had deigned to call himself Hokage. The man was crazy and had Amnesia to boot. How he had forgotten his most precious sleeper agent when he and his three companions had been the one to appoint him as such was simply incomprehensible.

Stepping to the far wall of the room, he sealed quickly, biting his finger and then placing his hand gently upon the wall. A small section of brickwork shone a bright turquoise before disintegrating before his eyes. Sitting upon a shelf in the small alcove, laid a thick, bound notebook with a scuffed, faded cover and wilting pages. He scooped it up and hid it within his cloak. He was done here.

He walked gracefully to the open window, his eyes watching the so-called Godaime Hokage. The pitiful man wouldn't last long. When Naruto-kun decided to end his little charade, things would change quickly. He had no illusions of what would happen in that time. For the moment, he needed to find the final clue left behind by the Eddian Library. He was so close, yet so far…

His blade was unsheathed and flashing before his eyes in an instant. The speed of his opponent's blade was almost belied by the soft clang that heralded the contact of their edges. Itachi gazed into the masked gaze of the one man he feared on the surface of the earth.

"Sou-Taicho-Sama. Please refrain. I was here for only a moment as my duty demanded."

There were only a few people who could sneak up on him. One of them was the embodiment of silence, but she had an advantage with that paper ability of hers. Another was before him, blade against his own.

A tense minute passed before the immense pressure on his arm lifted.

"You were never here." The masked man whispered.

The room became empty save for a quivering pile of flesh laying in his own excrement.

XXXXXXXXXX

Heavy aluminium doors groaned as they parted and swung inwards, dust swirling as if a mini-tornado had erupted within the confines of an old warehouse close to the small business section of Mori. Uzumaki Naruto, smile uninhibited, blond hair flapping, strode confidently into the middle of the expansive floor which housed nought but a few wooden crates stacked haphazardly around the storage building. All conversation ceased as he made his way towards the single flickering bulb; its light illuminating a radius of a single metre. Eager eyes peered inwards, excitement and unbridled intrigue holding their tongues until their leader could impart upon them his choice words.

"Are you ready for a job you noobheads?" A thunderous cheer arose within the warehouse confines. It was almost adoring adulation, yet Naruto was not fooled.

"We're gonna hit another one of those pubs! Old man Terakado thought it was a good idea to mess with the Kazejin! But we don't take these things lying down!" He enjoyed himself too much in these situations it seemed.

"Kozue, you take three people and destroy all their stock from the back. Simone, you need to stick around the rooftops and see what you can do about them looking out. Got it? Good. Mio, grab your sword and come with me; we're charging down the front!"

His audience roared their approval and in the next moment, the warehouse had become a whirlwind of activity. Laughter and bubbling voices could be heard from miles around as the young teens gathered up their things and departed the once-abandoned building the Kazejin had taken as their headquarters. Naruto spun on his heel and headed for the half raised, metal shutter that hung at the main entrance, a tall raven-haired girl with soft features and sharp eyes joining him along the way. Three others caught up to the two as they exited the warehouse, Naruto's broad grin only growing wider at the thought of what they were about to do.

"What we doing today Naru?" Mio's tone was soft, yet firm. It was the reason he had chosen her as his second-in-command. She was also the only one allowed to address him with any familiarity causing much jealousy among the other kids. If Naruto was honest with himself, it was probably because she reminded him a lot of Yuugao, but he wasn't his inability to face any reminder of his past leading to immediate animosity.

"_Don't _call me that!" How he hated the confused look she shot at him whenever he berated her!

Arele Mio had joined up very early on, in fact, she was probably his first acquaintance within the group of fun-loving teens growing up within the sleepy port-town. They had become fast friends although Naruto would never admit it aloud. It was another trait that endeared him to their group even though, like Mio, many of them were older than he.

"You didn't answer the question!"

Naruto sighed and punched one of the boys who had chosen to speak, who protested weakly and settled for glaring at his blond leader.

"Terakado-Ji thought it was soooooo funny to chuck his unused rubbish through the window of Uncle Rika's place. This calls for payback."

Mio laughed heartily and something stirred within his gut. He roughly squashed the old longing for his Konoha friends; he was past that and the Kazejin were his new posse.

"No Mephisto today?" Mio asked.

"Dunno. It's possible he's involved in all of this and I wouldn't put it past that drunkard to hire that chimp."

The other three shivered at the mention of the phantom menace that terrorised their town. Once a month they'd be called out to try and stop the cloaked and hooded individual who delighted in blowing things up. In only a year and a half since his first appearance in Mori, the ghost-like person had exploded a vat of raw fish across a mildly populated street, blown-up the anti-Chakra police precinct, destroyed a tree right in front of a herd of flamingo and causing them to hound through town with vengeance. It was a wonder nobody had been hurt in these incidents and yet they were no closer to catching the assailant than the downtown security was, despite their superior intelligence.

Because everybody knew that adults are dumb!

Naruto's group reached the side-street that doubled as a shortcut to Terakado's bar. They hid next to each other as they cautiously peered around the corner. The front was bustling with evening business as usual and Mio began to worry about how they would actually get in to have the night-time fun they were planning.

"Aww, they got the place staked out!" Naruto whined. "This calls for drastic action! Nisshu, you and Isane go cause a big distraction. Mio and Takashi will stay here and get in when I signal. I'm gonna go infiltrate and raise some hell!"

Mio perked up at the suggestion and the others sighed. Their leaders were insane. They had no idea why they were following the two nut-cases. _Oh yeah, _they had a crapload of fun along the way.

"Oh! But how will you get in Naruto?"

The blond began to cackle.

"Ohohohoho! I have the best idea ever!"

"Tell me!" Mio demanded excitedly.

"Nuh-uh!"

"You can't just leave me hanging like this!"

"I can and I will!" Naruto was forced to duck the playful swipe of her wooden sword resulting from his teasing. "O fiiiiine! Remember how Kozue's gonna go blow up the back of the shop?" He continued at Mio's nod. "Well they have these big, brown barrels of drink stored there, right? So all I gotta do is hide in one until they open it! It's awesome!"

Mio clapped and jumped up and down. Nisshu decided that he'd better leave before he caught the insanity disease.

Five hours later found a solitary barrel of booze stood in the centre of the pub's storage room. Kozue's team had removed the rest of them and disposed of them in a fiery ball of glory right in front of the shop. Of course, this meant that the rest of the Kazejin had hightailed it from the vicinity, cackling all the while as the patronage could only stare bewildered at their stock going up in flames.

It was to this scene that Anko and Shisui tracked Naruto's Chakra signal to. They had employed a clever tracking seal crafted by Jiraiya that used any blood seal to track its owner. After living with Naruto for so many years, both of them had easy access to seals he had made for them; some intentionally and some they were too scared of to touch. Who knew what Naruto's hormone-addled brain would come up with next?

It was ingenious really. Blood tied the user with a miniscule amount of Chakra; possibly the most efficient art within the sealing-arts itself. All Jiraiya was required to do, was connect a simple Chakra node to a reverse-engineered beacon. Instead of taking Chakra from the user and sending it out, it would take Chakra from the outside and send it down the link, back to the one who first crafted the seal.

Jiraiya claimed he'd made the sealing discovery of the century, but all of them knew that he was simply taking credit after studying that one seal Naruto had made that left the Hyuuga in an uproar a few years ago…

Shisui lightly tapped the barrel with his booted feet.

"Er, it says- It says he's in here."

Anko shot him a disgruntled look.

"I thought you didn't drink? If you really wanted this slosh so much, we coulda just got some from the front of the shop."

"No you idiot. Look! It says Naruto's Chakra source is in this barrel!"

Anko continued the incredulous look.

"…In a barrel? Riiiiight. And I'm supposed to be the idiot here? Maybe your coma messed with your head? _Why the hell would Naruto be hiding in a wine barrel of all things?_"

Shisui shook his head exasperatedly.

"You're asking me? This is Naruto we're talking about! He's more barmy than you are!"

"…You've got a point there."

Shisui nodded encouragingly.

"HEY! WHAT THE HELL IS THAT SUPPOSED TO M-"

And then the barrel crashed open with a splintering rumble of wood, a puddle of lilac liquid spreading beneath their toes. Sitting slumped upon the ground was none other than the blond in question himself.

Any jubilation they had immediately felt, all inclinations to group hug and party at their reunion died a harsh death in the face of morbid curiosity upon the loud, grating burp followed by a small hiccup from the young teen.

"Umm 'Ruto? Why the heck are you hiding in a wine barrel?" It escaped from her mouth before she could stop herself.

"_Hmpsh, Anko-sh, watchoo doin' heresh? I wash…I wash tryn'to bust Tarry-ki-ji…Tokiji's pie hole. Yosh!"_

"He's drunk." Shisui deadpanned.

"Congratulations Mr. Obvious!" Anko hissed.

Suddenly, the inebriated blond stumbled to his feet.

"_Mashtos you nimblewimble! I's gonna take you down todaysh!_"

Anko and Shisui could only stare with growing bewilderment as a tipsy figure, cloaked in a black cape with a hood thrown up to hide his face, dropped down from the roof and landed flat on its nose. What followed was even more strange as the two opponents proceeded to punch each other, only to miss and topple to the ground in a heap. The hooded figure's cape came undone on the way down causing its features to be exposed, only further confusing the audience.

It was Naruto. Make that a Naruto clone, they both thought as it puffed into oblivion upon striking the ground.

"He was…fighting himself? _Urgh! _ SHISUI WHAT THE HELL IS GOIN ON?"

The Uchiha could only shrug and close his eyes. He had absolutely no idea how their erstwhile blond friend managed to lose more marbles when he clearly had none to begin with.

"I…dunno."

ZZZZZZZZZ

And so they meet! Honestly, I quite loved that last scene, it was delightfully absurd, even to my standards! I apologise for taking so long with this; work and education do take priority at times, but we're reaching the point that I'm really dying to write! At that point, I'm sure I'll simply bang my fingers on the keyboard until they're sore!

I hope you all enjoyed it and do leave me a review! I know I was horrible with reviews for the first chapter; it was because they piled up so quickly that when I logged into my email the next day, it was like looking up at the peak of Everest from its base and thinking _Oh God, am I really going to climb this?_

And yes, I am no mountaineer.

Laters people!

~The Bee of all Bs.


	3. Phoenix Rise

**Konoha: At His Fingertips** _by MegaB_

Chapter 3: Phoenix Rise

Shisui stooped and hauled the collapsed blond onto his shoulder.

"Would you quit staring and gimme a hand here?" He snapped.

"But-but! I still have no idea what just happened!" Anko whined.

"You and me too, but if we don't get him somewhere relatively sane, we'll never get an answer out of him!"

Seemingly snapping her from her trance, Orochimaru's erstwhile protégé shook her head before throwing one of Naruto's arms over her shoulder, Shisui repeating the action for the other.

"God, he's gotten damn heavy! This can't be from just Ramen!" Shisui grunted, shifting his grip on the young teen's torso so that he wouldn't fall over mid-stride.

"Blasphemy! Naruto? Eating something other than Ramen? Don't let him hear you say that or who knows what'll happen!"

Shisui sighed and began his journey towards the street, Anko attempting to move in-sync to avoid any unfortunate accidents. When they breached the side door leading out into a cobblestone street attached to the main road in front of the quiet neighbourhood corner, Shisui breathed in the moist, calming scent of the ocean to the north on the outskirts of Mori.

"What the hell were you doing here Naruto? This place is so far from Konoha…" He whispered. The blond grunted in his sleep but other than that, showed no signs of regaining consciousness.

"Where should we take him?" Anko asked, peering anxiously up and down the small back street.

"No idea. Somewhere quiet I guess."

They both tensed at the sound of pattering feet, one, no, two pairs approaching their position. They distinctly heard laboured breathing, puffing, yet vaguely excited. They shared a bewildered glance before turning to the far entrance of the street where two faces snuck around the corner with cautious expressions.

One was female; raven locks straight down to mid-back, glitteringly mischievous eyes and a broad grin. The other was a short boy, far more reserved, his tousled brown hair pulled into a loose centre-parting. They were both dressed casually although the girl held herself with poise, denoting a certain measure of training, a Bokken tied to her waist with a grey sash.

"Oh look, Takashi! It's 'Ruto!" The girl chirped. For some reason, this caused her small compatriot to groan in consternation.

They jogged up to the two Konoha-nin, both relieved at the sight of the unconscious blond. Anko and Shisui exchanged another look, this time of dawning realisation.

"And what would you two want with little ol' Naruto? See, we got dibs on this dunderhead!" Anko growled.

Mio clapped excitedly before reaching a slim hand out in front of the purple-headed Jounin's nose.

"My name's Mio! Any friend of 'Ruto's is a friend of mine!" Her voice almost matched her megaton smile.

_She's so…bubbly!_ Anko thought. She shook the girl's hand however, noting her above average grip strength and focused eyes. _So this was one of the people the stupid Gaki had hung out with since leaving the Hidden Leaf…_

"Anko," she responded, eliciting a grateful giggle from the overly-happy girl. Anko frowned internally at the situation; they needed to move. She was prevented from moving ahead by Shisui's voice.

"Would you two know anything about why we found this idiot drunk to his toes and hiding in a Wine barrel?" He was certainly as irked at the past couple of minutes as she was it seemed.

Mio giggled again.

"Oh, that might be because he decided it was fun to hide in there," she said.

"And why, exactly, would he want to hide in a Wine barrel?" Anko would have laughed at the audible whine in his voice if she wasn't so curious herself.

"Well that's because he was trying to sneak into the pub of course! Terakado-jii thought it was a great idea to pick on the Kazejin and Naruto decided he wasn't having any of it."

This time Shisui really did groan.

"What he's tryna say," Anko offered, "is that he wants to know _what situation_ would cause him to want to hide in there in the first place-"

"Oh! In that case, Naruto's our leader, you see, the leader of the Kazejin! We sort of do our own thing around town, pulling pranks and stuff. Naruto wanted to get inside that shop, but couldn't through the front door, and that's what he decided to do instead."

Anko looked slightly put-off at being interrupted so easily, yet she didn't say anything. They really did need to get indoors.

"…I'm not saying I understand a word of what you just said but…do you have somewhere we can talk to this lunatic in private? Somewhere indoors preferably," Shisui asked hesitantly. Mio turned to grin at Takashi, yet the shorter male didn't seem to share her enthusiasm.

"Sure! We'll take you to our hideout!"

Anko distinctly got the impression that the word 'hideout' was uttered a tad bit over-eagerly. She couldn't help the swirling of dread that began at the pit of her gut as the black haired girl sauntered off down the street, her gait oddly reminding her of a Cheshire Cat.

XXXXXXXXXXX

"This….this is what you call a hideout?"

"Yup!"

Anko groaned.

"It's an abandoned warehouse! I expected an underground bunker with the latest tech or something far more awe-inspiring than _this!_"

"How old, exactly, are you again?"

Takashi's questioned was answered by a swift kick to the shin and Anko couldn't help but notice the frosty glare Mio sent the boy's way.

Shisui settled Naruto's unconscious form gently into a rickety plastic chair cushioned with not more than a thin layer of uncovered, stained foam. The blonde's arms flopped uselessly at his sides although he made no move to wake up.

The two Konoha-nin glanced around them surreptitiously, taking in the strange, cold brick and metal building they had been invited to. The four of them had entered through a side door leading to a desolate garden; traces of fern and flora barely poking through the dusty gravel that seemed to bury what could have been a lush environment in the past. The sides of the building were liberally spread with corrugated Aluminium divides, though the majority were showing signs of rust and decay.

The room they had taken to was bare of anything besides a couple of plastic chairs, a naked bulb swinging lazily below the ceiling. Anko had noticed that many of the rooms they had passed on the way to their current residence were very similar in size and substance, if they had lights at all that is.

She shivered in the cold, the walls doing barely anything to inhibit the slight breeze whistling through the many gaps and holes peppering the building. She supposed that it would grow on her if she had to stay here every day, although whatever could convince her to return would have to be monumental to even be considered.

She turned back to Mio, the girl smiling happily as she stared unwaveringly at their mutual acquaintance. A question came unbidden to her lips and she found herself opening her mouth without really meaning to.

"How long has you known him?"

Mio's head snapped to regard her, the tinge of joy gleaming through her features.

"About a year and a half, I guess. He stumbled in here around that time and one of the boys tried to beat him up. It didn't end well for that guy hahaha!" Anko smiled at that, she could just about see exactly how such a scene would have played out.

"You lot Shinobi then?" Takashi enquired anxiously. Anko has noticed that he seemed to be fidgeting ever since they'd set their friend down on his seat, as if he had some lingering doubt he was dying to have addressed. Shisui sighed tiredly.

"Yeah, we are. I take it the Hitai-ite gave it away, huh?"

Takashi snorted derisively.

"What would the tree-huggers have to do with the Kazejin's leader I wonder."

Anko frowned; what was it with this guy?

"You mean he hasn't told you where he came from before you met him?" Shisui thought aloud.

"No!"

Takashi's answer was a bit too snappish to not be suspicious. Shisui eyed the boy for a moment before addressing Mio.

"Well, to answer your question, he's one of our best friends. He was born and raised in Konoha. He left us two years ago for his own reasons and we've only just managed to track him down."

"Well he obviously wants to stay here then, doesn't he?" Takashi retorted waspishly.

Anko glared at the boy.

"You say one more _utterly stupid thing_ and I'll make sure you can't speak for the rest of our conversation. Better yet, get outta here kid; you're obviously way too immature to be in on this."

Takashi protested verbally before Mio told him to shut up and pushed him out the door, slamming it angrily after him.

"Sorry about him. He actually cares for Naruto quite a lot even if he pretends he really doesn't," Mio muttered. "So why did Naruto leave in the first place?"

Anko and Shisui exchanged an uneasy glance.

"Things…things happened, and it was a little bit too much for him to take. He's had a hard life and the situation in Konoha…"

"It's complicated," Shisui finished. Mio frowned, that really was very little information.

Three heads turned as a clear moan escaped the blonde's mouth from across the room. Anko rushed to his side and cradled his head to stop him from straining his neck from the strange position he found himself in.

"Oi Gaki, wake the hell up! We've been looking all over for you, ya know?"

Naruto opened his eyes ever-so-slightly, blearily peering from under hooded lids at the room's occupants. He gave a startled flinch when he noticed just who was before him, his eyes snapping open so quickly that he almost fell from his chair at the pounding pain that flashed through his head.

"Anko-nee, what are you doing here? Urgh-" His eyes widened comically as they lit upon a person he never thought he'd see again for the rest of his life. Shisui grinned back in typically cheesy fashion.

Of course, his greeting was not at all what any of them suspected.

"_**Sirius!**__ What the hell are __**YOU **__doing here? I thought you fell through the veil-"_

Naruto slumped to the side, head lolling after Shisui's cross-punch to the temple.

"…Ignore that," he stated during a heavy moment of silence. Anko nodded vigorously to show her approval and Mio sighed exasperatedly.

When he did regain consciousness for the second time, it was far more like the blond than before.

"SHISUI WHAT THE HELL? I thought you was dead man!" The chair shook for a moment before he glanced down at his bindings.

"Why the heck am I tied down?" He asked slowly. Anko cackled with glee as Shisui squatted in front of their friend and patted his cheek.

"Oh that's because we don't want you going insane on us like last time. Course, you're already insane, but we're trying to prevent any extra insanity you see. Madness is bad for the heart and all that, especially when madness is already there and only increases-"

"I think you made your point," Anko blurted. Naruto sat stunned, his eyes unable to leave the dark depths of his Sharingan-wielding brother.

"How?" he asked, the single word carrying far more emotion than the others expected. Mio grimaced.

"Urgh, I'll…I'll be outside I suppose," she said, striding to the door, Bokken swinging haphazardly before opening and closing the door with a snap. Naruto hardly acknowledged her departure, such was his focus on his erstwhile friends.

Shisui remained before him, features creasing into a soft smile at Naruto's concern. His hand trailed down to rest on the Jinchuuriki's shoulder.

"Tsunade fixed me right up Naruto. She's the best medic in the world for a reason," squeezing his shoulder he stood up and glanced down at the blond. "Don't get me wrong, it was a serious injury and nobody else could've healed me."

"That can't be right 'cause…" He frowned."…because she told me she'd fixed everything back then but you just weren't waking up!"

"He's right in front of you 'Ruto," she smiled. "That's good enough isn't it?"

In a burst of Wind Chakra, the ropes surrounding him fell to the ground and he leapt forward in a rush, crushing Shisui in a bodily hug. The Uchiha-survivor let out an exhilarating laugh, swinging his brother in all but blood around and around in the air. They calmed after a moment, Shisui setting Naruto down on his feet gently.

"Whoa, I guess," he paused to wipe his nose, "I guess I missed so much, huh?"

Anko smiled. "You did. But there's a lot of time to make up for it!"

Anko and Shisui glanced at each other worriedly when Naruto's face fell at her proclamation.

"I-"

"What are you thinking Naruto? There's no reason to not come back. The Sandaime wanted you in Konoha and I'm sure that hasn't changed," Shisui said, ever-so-softly.

"It's not that," Naruto shook his head. "It's Madara! He-"

"Madara's _dead_," Anko cut in. She recoiled at her own tone before continuing hesitantly. "Like Orochimaru; we found his body halfway to the border with Ame."

Naruto collapsed, his legs giving out from under him. All this time! _All this time!_ He'd been worrying all this time, justifying his self-imposed exile by the haunting words of a man who he'd killed by his own hands. He looked at them now, calloused and shaking as they were.

His own hands.

He looked up, catching the purple-haired Tokubetsu Jounin's gaze with his own shimmering depths of azure.

"How-"

"You killed him!" Anko snapped. "Madara and Orochimaru! Two of the most dangerous people in the entire world Naruto! Why the hell are you running from your own damn ghosts?"

Naruto's eyes were wide, staring at her with something akin to shock, not that she noticed however, she was too far caught within her ensnaring anger, the demons that had been seeking to tear her apart for two years, to stop anytime soon.

"You're one of the most freakin'-powerful kids in the world! Why the hell are you running away again and again? IT'S MAKING ME SICK!"

She stopped to catch her breath, Shisui almost as surprised as the focus of her anger at her sudden outburst.

"Anko, I don't think-"

"**THE HELL YOU DON'T!**" She screamed. "I've been all alone for three years Goddamnit! You turned into some paranoid whacko, Kakashi was off trying to commit suicide and THIS GUY-" She rounded on him once again, eyes streaming with tears as her emotional turmoil, hidden for so long, finally rushed to the forefront as if a mighty dam had suddenly collapsed.

But they never heard what she was going to say next, for before she could continue, her throat convulsed with a strangled sob, catching her unawares and bowing her head in her utter sorrow.

If the room had been tense before, the awkwardness had now sky-rocketed. Naruto, realising suddenly what had happened during his absence as suddenly as a gust of wind steals your homework on a blustery day, cautiously approached his friend and hugged her. Anko continued to cry, huge gulps of air wracking her body with tremors she hadn't felt since her abandonment in her teenage years.

"I missed you all so Goddamn much!" She wept. "It was like…it was like those days before I got promoted, all my own-" She gulped in another lungful of air as if it were her only hope.

"Every day," her head rose an inch, steel amethyst eyes glittering with unshed tears. "Every damned day telling myself that it'd get better, that you'd come back…"

After an indefinite amount of time, Naruto wriggled to step back; somehow noticing that Shisui had appeared by his side rubbing circles into Anko's back. They parted uneasily, a small pink tinge washed over the tip of Anko's nose and cheeks.

"Thanks," she murmured.

They sat on the floor then, all three of them not knowing what to say and not wanting to be the first person to broach the silence after Anko's breakdown. Naruto, realising how cold it was in the bare room, muttered as he drew his hands into seals and then finally snapping his hands forward and expelling a small fiery-orange ball of flame that settled into the middle of the room and immediately causing the temperature to rise. Anko and Shisui stared at it for a moment before Shisui raised an eyebrow.

"Do I want to know?" He asked.

"I learnt that when I was staying here. Neat trick huh?" He grinned.

"Pretty useful, I suppose," Anko whispered, rubbing her arms as if to trap the heat within them. After another moment of silence, all three burst out laughing for no apparent reason they could rationalise.

And it was to this scene that Mio re-entered the room.

"Everything ok now?" She prodded gently, closing the door with her foot as her hands were full with a tray of juice and Onigiri.

"Just peachy, Mio." Naruto replied.

"Good," she said. "We were wondering if it'd take a fight before you all shut up!" Ignoring the glares sent her way, doing nothing to deter the full-blown smile upon her lips.

"You're going back to Konoha." She remarked, stabbing a finger in Naruto's direction.

"Huh? Wha-"

"No buts!"

"I didn't even say but!" Naruto complained.

"You were thinking it!"

"That wasn't even a question!"

"Well done, you've proven you can talk."

"Mio!" Naruto growled. "I will decide whatever the hell I wanna do! You-" he began, jabbing his own finger at her face, "will simply have to accept it!"

Her smile only widened if that was possible.

"I know that. Everyone wants you to go though. A lot of us have noticed that your focus is never with the Kazejin even since you formed us up."

Naruto looked down guiltily.

"It's not my fault Mio. I wanna stay, I really do. It's been really cool with you, Takashi and the others!"

Shisui leaned forward, a sombre expression on his face.

"That's one of the reasons we came to get you actually. We know this was your choice and we respect that and would've left you alone however long you wanted," he said, ignoring the sharp glare Anko sent his way.

"What are you talking about?" Naruto asked, thoroughly confused.

"It's Kakashi. He's trying to kill himself."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"You didn't tell us you were staying with someone else," Shisui said over the streaming wind as they flew through the trees at a breakneck speed. "We would have given you a bit more time to say goodbye…well, I would have anyway," he said, shooting a glare at Anko's grin on his other side.

Naruto waved off his concern as he positioned himself for another jump, springing nimbly from a branch that whipped up in front of him.

"No worries. Jii-san took me in after- after I landed on his doorstep. I was bleeding out my ears after the fight with Madara and I didn't know he was dead. Didn't wanna take the chance of him bein' alive and getting to me before I managed to get outta the area."

He glanced up at the clouded sky, pondering the last few years of his life, wondering how fickle his existence was. He never understood how he ended up where he ended up. He'd never even considered leaving Konoha for such an extended period of time, nor meeting such a diverse range of people as he did in Mori. It was better for him than he could ever admit aloud.

"So what was his name? That old guy, I mean," Anko enquired after he shot her a confused look.

"Oh…well, I dunno actually."

Anko gaped at him.

"You lived with the guy for over two years and never asked him what his name was?"

Naruto sighed.

"It's not as simple as that Anko-née. Jiji can't speak. He can't write either otherwise I would've asked him," he said, scratching his leg idly, his sweatshirt rippling over his chest as the air caught within its voluminous length.

"Oh," she responded after a pregnant silence.

Shisui held up a hand and all three landed in a small clearing devoid of grass. In fact, it appeared as if the ground had been forcibly smoothed at some point in the past. The soil was soft but not damp, free of rock and grain, yet a few weeds had begun to grow around it, shaping an almost perfect oval ringed by trees. It was a beautiful spot, a sense of tranquillity spreading through the soft sway of green around it coupled with the scent of fresh, damp pine wafting through the air.

"We'll stop here for the night. As it is, we're ahead of Kakashi anyway. We'll move out in the morning and hope to be there by mid-afternoon. Hopefully that idiot is as cautious as always and is still scoping the place out," Shisui huffed and began pulling his storage scrolls from the small pouch slung on a strap over his shoulder.

Naruto couldn't break the feeling of déjà vu. The makeshift camp reminded him of something in his memory but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"I've been here before," he muttered. Anko's head swivelled to look in his direction, a strange look spreading across her features.

"You probably have. We're on the border to Kusa," and then it was Naruto's turn with a shocked expression.

"But that's-"

"He's dead Naruto. What do you think happened to his base after that? We've been getting job requests all year for Nuke-nin popping up all over the country."

Naruto glanced at her, trying to gauge her reaction to his realisation, but she sighed and looked away; her eyes glazing over ever-so-slightly.

"Can't fault you kiddo, you stomped him into the ground and I am happy for that. Orochimaru was a monster, I just…I guess I wanted to do it with my own hands 'cause of how much he hurt me back then," she sighed. "It's selfish, I know, he's hurt so many other people too, and it ain't my right to do it but-"

"We should just be happy Killer Bee was around. If he didn't have Silvana with him, the Snake would've gotten away again," Shisui growled, his eyes flashing in anger. He was asleep, _asleep!_ When all the crap went down, he had to be in a damned coma of all things.

The trio busied themselves with laying out their sleeping bags, Naruto's a dull orange with blue panda bears decorating its tubular surface. Anko couldn't help cracking a grin, before all three fell into peals of laughter, holding their sides collapsed on the ground. When they finally settled, warm gazes almost setting each other off once again, Anko spoke up, her throat trembling with suppressed mirth.

"You know, Jiraiya told me about Orochimaru. Some of the things I didn't know but I realised he and Sandaime-Sama used to tease each other over all the time," She stared into the flames that Shisui belatedly lit in the middle of the campsite. "Hah, more like Jiraiya always tried to bring it up but old Sarutobi always threatened him if he didn't shut up!"

"What was it?" Naruto asked, curiosity shining in his vivid blue eyes.

Anko dissolved into another set of giggles just at the thought of what she was about to say, after a few moments of silence broken only by her laughter and the other two's amused glances, she started up again haltingly.

"Remember- remember how Jiraiya would always bring up that thing about a tiger?" At Naruto's nod, she continued. "Haha well, turns out Sarutobi was teaching his team anatomy and, well-"

She broke off once again, her elbows tucked around her as she gasped for breath.

"Sorry- it's just so, _so funny!_" She idly wiped a couple of stray tears from her eyelashes, the pearly droplets glittering in the glow of the campfire as they fell to the ground.

"Basically, they strung up and skinned a tiger they caught on one of their missions whilst Sandaime-Sama pointed out all the different organs and bones and stuff. He was discussing some really complex blood vessels and he and Orochimaru got drawn into a debate about the arteries running to the back two legs. They decided to test who was right and Orochimaru pulled out a Kunai and went to cut into it."

She looked around, barely holding in her cackles at the other two.

"He missed the right place and ended up slicing a more…disgusting area I guess!" She chuckled again, her voice going hoarse from her continued hysterics. She almost burst as dawning realisation, almost awed-horror, and then an absolute priceless look of morbid glee flittered over Shisui's face.

"You mean-"

"Exactly! They ended up _spattered _in white _gunk!_ It even went in their mouths, 'cause they were so shocked at what he'd done!"

And then she lost it, her and Shisui rolling around on the ground as the full meaning of what she'd just said began to take root in Naruto's younger mind.

"Oh my God…that is…that is _disgusting!_"

And just like that, Shisui set Naruto off as well. A few minutes later, they somehow lay side-by-side staring up into the canopy, the twinkling stars almost visible through the almost misty cloud-cover.

"I never got to say sorry to him, you know?" Naruto whispered.

Shisui laid an arm over his shoulders, the three of them just reveling in the comfort of each other's presence.

"At least you were there Naruto. I didn't even get to see him before he died. He lived a long life at the top of his game. He was possibly the most accomplished Shinobi ever to live. I can't mourn his passing knowing what I do; it'd disrespect my memory of him," Shisui never once took his eyes from Naruto's as he spoke, compassion aglow, even in the smouldering black of his irises.

"Yeah," Naruto responded, grief thickening his tongue. Both were snapped from their ensuing funk as well-honed reflexes brought their arms up to catch the two ball-like objects striking their faces.

"Oh, stop moping around you brybabies!" Anko remarked annoyingly. "Get something in your stomach and then get some sleep!"

Naruto looked down at the strange looking fruit he now held. It was coloured with a radial gradient; blue and grey mixing in the most unnatural ways. He squeezed it lightly within his palm, feeling the squishy flesh beneath the thing skin against his fingers.

"What the heck is this thing?" He asked.

"Ugh, no idea. Picked it up in the forest along the way. At least it's food."

Shisui glanced at his own sceptically. "I don't think you're entirely sure about that yourself, Anko," he remarked.

"Course I am!" And with that, she took a huge bite with an echoing crunch, something that caused Naruto to wince for some reason. _Gut reaction_, he reasoned.

Within a few moments, something very weird began to happen. The phenomenon was known as a drugged Mitarashi Anko. The only sign that anything was wrong was the sudden slackening of her shoulders as she belly-flopped upon the leafy ground.

"Umm, Anko-née, I am so not eating this."

"But it'sh delishowus 'Ruto!" She slurred, her eyes dilating as she squinted to take him in.

"If you say so…" He muttered, considering her with a frown.

Shisui tossed his into the bushes around the clearing.

"I didn't know fruit could be drugged. First time for everything, huh?" He said.

Naruto nodded before having to tackle Anko to the ground since she was trying to undress for a reason known only to her.

"'Ruto, Geroff me!" She shouted.

"Not until you calm down!" He shot back.

"Senjashuuuuuuu~" She declared, her arms swinging wildly around beneath his weight. Naruto yelped as a trio of snakes slithered lazily down her arms before he realised that the effects of the fruit seemed to be carried over to them. The snakes flopped languidly to the ground, their eyeballs flitting around without focusing on anything.

"Right," Naruto said, "I've had enough." And at Shisui's raised eyebrow, he slammed a fist into the back of his friend's neck causing her to collapse, unconscious.

"Well that's one way to do it, I suppose!" Shisui said.

"Oh thanks for your help, Uchiha Genius."

At the lauded Shinkirou's affronted look, Naruto slid into his sleeping bag and turned over for the night, a smile already stretched across his face.

He wouldn't say it, but he'd be lying if he said he hadn't missed this.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Morning dawned beautifully. There was something to be said about Naruto's frame of mind in recent years; he'd began to relish the simpler things in life. People who'd known him would say that was always the case for the blond bundle of energy of the past but Naruto had really begun to realise just how vast and awe-inspiring the real world was.

As the sun peaked the horizon, it rays flushing the fields of grass with a hazy glow that shone with such lustre that he was dazzled, he watched from the seated position in his rapidly warming sleeping bag. It was crazy, he decided, how humans could mess up everything so easily when the world went round and round without fail, never once breaking from its God-given pattern.

Shisui had awoken before him and had already set about clearing up the area. He'd doused the fire last night to allow them a comfortable sleep; Rice Country grew humid at this time of year and they would have sweat buckets if he'd left it to burn till its embers. Anko, however, was still snoring softly, and he wondered if she'd been cured of the drugged fruit over the course of her sleep.

Speak of the devil.

"Whassat, mornin'?" She whined, still half asleep even though the sun was very much in her eyes.

"That's what generally happens every twenty-four hours Anko. Get up, we need to move out as soon as we can," Shisui said whilst stuffing the last of his supplies into a small camping bag.

The trio rose lazily, eating breakfast in the swaying breeze beneath the canopy of trees to the south of their encampment. Once they'd finished and were suitably rested, Shisui slapped a hastily drawn map in front of them and they gathered round with grim determination.

"Ok, so Kannabi bridge. Kakashi's likely point of insertion was to the east, as that's the only route the Konoha border is open to. Danzou would never choose brains over a shorter mission time if he could help it."

Anko frowned. "This is Kakashi we're talking about. Knowing him, he probably disregarded anything Danzou said if he could think of something better."

"True," Shisui nodded. "However, given what we know of his state of mind, I don't think he'll be doing that for this mission."

Anko shrugged, a pensive expression settling upon her soft features.

"Naruto, in the last two years since Killer Bee disposed of Orochimaru, his underlings have gone off-radar. There've been mass breakouts of Nuke-nin from all over the world forming into their own small groups and causing havoc wherever they please. The Hi no Kuni intelligence division has been prioritising the removal of the Konoha-nin in relation to this situation and Kakashi's been hunting them down for the last six months or so."

Naruto nodded to show he understood, Shisui took it as his sign to continue.

"We're talking along the lines of three to four A-Class Nuke-nin here; we're not sure if they were the butt of one or more of Orochimaru's depraved human experimentation, so their actual fighting level we don't know," stabbing his finger at the two circled areas around what could only be described as a bridge's ruins drawn by hand, Shisui looked up seriously. "Those are the locations of the most likely position that the Intelligence division expected them to be camped out at. They've been attacking the town close by using hit-and-run tactics for almost a month now; the mayor came to Fire Country's council to request Samurai involvement, but the cads up there obviously thought it was too low for them and shifted it to Konoha instead. This means that Kakashi was sent solo with our forces stretched thin as they are."

The Uchiha survivor ran a gloved hand through his hair, glaring hard at his own map for a moment.

"Look, I'm not sure how much Kakashi's told you about his past; I mean, I wouldn't even know had I not been drafted into the ANBU selection process when he was coming down from his prime. Kannabi bridge is…it's very important to him, I suppose." He shifted uneasily, playing on the edges of his Hitai-ite.

"Where his old team lost Obito, you mean," Anko blurted out before looking away guiltily.

"Yeah, my oldest cousin died there back then. It's where he got his Sharingan. It was the last time the old Team 7 was together," He closed his eyes wearily. "All I'm saying is…just be prepared that Kakashi went off knowing this was a suicide mission."

What he meant went unsaid. Shisui and Anko found their gazes straying to the youngest member of their group, his eyes far off in the distance, considering something neither could fathom. A tense silence fell upon them as they unconsciously waited for his reaction.

Naruto blinked languidly before staring at the two in surprise.

"What?" He said.

Shisui grinned. "What were you thinking just now?"

"You lose some things, you gain some things, right?" He smiled, though there was little humour written in it. "If he's feeling all lonely 'cause his first family's gone…well, that's what the second family's for, right?"

"You do know you say 'right' and 'see' way too many times to be normal?" Anko elbowed him in the ribs.

"Yeah, you're such an uneducated brat! What did we spend all that time teaching you for?" Shisui chided as he put the young blond in a headlock. Naruto shook himself out of their teasing and turned to them.

"I think we'd better leave before 'Kashi does something stupid," he suggested.

"Oh wow, when did you grow a brain?"

"Unlike you, Anko-née, I don't need Dango to replace what's already there," he said with a deadpan voice. Shisui laughed heartily at her indignant squawk as the trio set out to save the last of their group.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Perhaps the hardest thing in life is to accept something that you have never seen. It was funny, Kakashi had pondered, just how strange those sorts of experiences were, whether it were trusting the word of someone you loved, friends or family, all the way up to religious people believing in God. People had looked up at the sky and thought 'hey, maybe there's something up there, something bigger and more complex than this world we live in' even though they couldn't see it, or better yet, even have any proof in support of such a notion.

Life for a Shinobi was always the same. After ten years of patrols, assassinations, ambassadorial roles and the like, each mission devolved into another monotonous routine. It was probably the biggest reason for a promising ninja's stagnation; reliance on certain techniques that begin to form their _only_ techniques. A Shinobi became defined by his own routine, his own choice of ninjutsu even though that wasn't necessarily all there was to him. How many of the thousand Jutsu Sarutobi Hiruzen had known had he actually used? How many had Kakashi used for that matter? All those memorised since Obito had cursed him with his Sharingan.

It was hard to disassociate the reality one lives to the utopia one believes in. Kakashi had begun to realise this; his utopia had been one with his friends in it, living by the ideologue, the _modus operandi_ Minato-Sensei had bequeathed to him. Team 7 were a tightknit group upon Uchiha Obito's demise, and Kakashi knew not what path he would have followed if he had remained standing to this day.

He glanced down at the map in his lap, booted feet crossed beneath him. He had no luggage, no equipment save for what he held on his person. His most precious belonging rested on his back, the blade passed down to him from his father, one that had broken and reformed. Danzou's orders were crazy, he knew that, they always were, and yet he hardly cared that he was a walking occupational hazard at that moment.

Kannabi Bridge, how he hated that name. And yet, he was somehow, inexorably drawn to it like a moth to flame. He couldn't explain it, yet he knew unconsciously that his life would end there, just as _Sharingan no Kakahi's_ had begun.

He stood gracefully, folding the map into the flap of his hip-pouch, pausing only to sip at his water bottle and quench his seemingly parched throat. It had been like that ever since he'd heard of this mission, and no amount of liquid could stop the feeling of thirst at the very core of his being.

It was mid-afternoon, long grass and swaying stalks surrounding him in a heady embrace of nature's smell. He stole cat-like, through the trees, his eyes seeking out the landmarks only he could find.

The only other two who would've recognised them were dead.

Mud turned to murky water, foliage to rock as his memories finally overtook him once again. He stopped on the edge of a cave, the whole structure having collapsed years ago. It was here that his mind led him, it was here that he had begun.

With morbid curiosity, he began to dig. His intelligent mind recoiled at what his heart was pushing him to do, yet he could not stop. He struggled onwards, overturning huge boulders sunk deep into the crevices of the earth that the Iwa-nin had made all those years ago. And finally, finally, he reached the bottom, his eyes hungrily taking in the rocky terrain that had been his brother's grave. At some point his hitai-ite had slipped from his forehead and the cloth lay pooled at his feet, exposing the eye he had inherited.

There was nothing there, predictably, time having disposed of fragments of bone and living flesh due to the pressure from above. If he looked hard enough, he could just about make out the faint traces of dried blood, the vicinity having preserved it in the moisture of underground havens. Or maybe that was his mind's eye playing tricks on him.

"Having fun digging up your friend's remains?" Someone chortled from behind him. He neither cared, nor wanted to face him. Why would he, it was futile in the end, wasn't it?

"Ahh~, this is boring Gen-san. Can't we just kill him and get outta here? It's hot as a beach out here," another voice whined.

Irakuro Gen, his mind supplied one of his mission's targets. A-Class Nuke-nin, though his exact origins were unknown. He was likely an Ame-defector, joining Orochimaru's forces only to be stabbed in the back and used as a prison guard or test-subject. Abilities were unknown.

Kakashi glanced up slowly, his eye twitching slightly as the sun streamed through the trees, painting the grey backdrop of stone a white-washed colour with a hint of the pasture that had surrounded the place in days bygone. Even the dirty water, the swirling, grit-filled bog, glittered merrily, basking in weather's glory.

Only one thought passed through his strangely silent mind. It was a good place to die.

And so he turned, casting off the shackles of his past, the melancholy of his present and the nightmares of his future. He turned slowly, his hand unsheathing the White Fang with an ethereal sliding of metal. The edge shone with un-blunted lustre, the weight as light as his heart.

And the fight began.

It was inevitable that he would lose this battle, he knew, whether he was referring to his life as a whole, or the events surrounding the moment. Yet in the daze of his movements, the roar of his flame, the crackle of his lightning, the thud of his stone or the swish of his metal, he barely registered the fact that his sword left a shimmering white trail of pure Chakra in the wake of its slice, gutting the first through the neck, the second through the bowel. He spun, light as a feather, his palm barely touching the ground before it tore a trench a meter wide before him.

He hadn't felt the lance of electricity lodge in his left shoulder, his arm hanging limp thereafter. He hadn't felt the Chakra bomb that had thrown him through two trees either, his eyes fixed on his opponents but nowhere at all.

And as he flipped forwards into a forward roll to avoid a boulder careening for his head, he recognised the seals placed on the outcrop he had alighted on.

Explosive seals, primed and trigger-controlled.

His death foretold, he had already accepted it maybe as Naruto's eyes had widened that day on the roof of Hokage tower. Maybe he had known that the chance that had presented itself, a family after a family, was his last one he would ever have the opportunity of taking.

And as the seals lit up in a beautiful pattern of golden swirls, the intricacies of the seal blending over as the power grew within them, he knew the truth that he had so long turned his back on.

You only realise the blessing of what you once had when it is taken away from you.

Yet it was not to be.

He was jerked back _furiously_ by a force so strong, that it totally enclosed him from the ensuing blast that tore through stone like a hot knife through butter. His hair burnt at their ends, curls of smoke rising from his charred clothing, he rolled and rolled, his energy spent before a small, strong hand grasped him by the nape of his neck and hauled him bodily upwards.

"What the hell man, were you trying to die?"

Golden hair swinging in the wind, grey fatigues with a blue, worn t-shirt. Cerulean eyes that had no depth; it was like looking into the past, how far back you go is up to you.

"Take it easy man, we got ya. Those guys aren't getting out of there alive," the voice said exultantly. He recognised it, he was sure, but it wouldn't, _couldn't_ tell him who it was. Pain began to cloud his senses, the preceding fog conquered by currents of agony as his wounds finally caught up to him. His vision flickered, a huge mushroom-shaped explosion tearing through the area, ferocious winds throwing his head back like a rag doll. He idly realised he'd been placed in a sort of groove within the ruins of the bridge, raised from the ground, affording a good view of the area.

A jolt of pain so strong, sharpened his mental faculties and he managed to see through the vapid mist clouding his senses for a brief moment.

Just in time too.

Naruto's fist swung, so fast it appeared to disappear in mid-arc only for the final Nuke-nin to scream in unadulterated pain as he was struck cleanly through, cracking rib bones and squelching flesh. He struck so hard and fast, that even though half his arm passed right through the man, the now limp body was thrown dizzyingly into the wreckage of a beam of the once proud bridge.

Alas, his neck, mind and eyes could take no more and he slipped into the unending bliss of sleep.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Time passed fuzzily for Kakashi after that. He had vague moments of awareness, lying down beside the heat of a fire, movement as the team moved from one area or the next. It took him three days to become lucid enough and understand the messages his faculties were sending him.

He came to very much in the heart of Hi no Kuni. If he looked hard enough, he could just make out the spire that was the entrance of the Information exchange bureau. He was somehow back to Konoha, a place he thought he'd never see again. But he could see now, _really_ see. The mists that seemed to hold back his senses for so long had disappeared. He couldn't tell someone when it was the last time that he could feel in such way.

And what a feeling! His mind was ablaze, his skin tingling as if every single neuron in his body were firing at random intervals. It was a nice feeling to see.

"Awake again huh? Stay with us for more than two minutes will ya, Kashi!"

His head turned ever so slowly, his neck hurting from disuse.

"Naruto?" he rasped, his dry lips sliding roughly over one another.

"Yo, Sharingman!" He raised his hand in greeting.

"You're back," he croaked slowly. He was almost blinded by the smile he received in return.

"Yup! Right back where it started man. I reckon I gotta do what Jiji asked me to ya know?"

Kakashi could only stare disbelievingly as he tried to comprehend his statement.

"Then…then…" He could barely contain the hope that seeped into his voice.

Naruto's countenance darkened considerably. The blond stood, and Kakashi realised he'd grown in the years they'd been apart. His wiry frame was still slim, not healthy in anyone's eyes, and yet he had a strength about him, a power that attracted people, moreso than Kakashi had even felt from the Yondaime.

"That sucker's gonna die. I'm gonna gut him myself," he said with such conviction that Kakashi realised just who he was referring to.

Danzou's days were numbered. In fact, Kakashi hazarded the guess that he wouldn't last till tomorrow. What would come, would come. He felt empty of the negative emotions, the sadness of his past was gone. He breathed in deeply, only to cough at his parched throat. But it was there; the light airy feeling of release.

His demons were gone. Maybe he had to accept them first before they would leave.

Maybe, maybe he had to die to be born again.

And Kakashi would do that. He was already born anew.

ZZZZZZZZZZ

And so we close the book on this chapter of the saga. It was important for Kakashi to escape the clutches of his past. Things were boiling over with him for too long, like a kettle that would eventually explode if you covered its spout.

There's some very heavy foreshadowing in this chapter. I won't say anything but…read it as you will. Fiction has an amazing aspect in that every reader reads it differently. Every individual can draw their own conclusions, and that's half the fun of writing.

And so with these half-truths and hints at more to come, we move back to Konoha and the meat of the storyline. That said, I've got a HP-fic prologue cooking, and you might have a chance to peruse it in the coming weeks. Once again, apologies for the atrocious review replies, _especially_ to dear jolteonforever; I do read all of them, and I hope you can continue to support me and offer your help whenever you feel the need.

So enjoy, and hopefully the next one will be out far quicker than this.

~MegaB


	4. All Change, Please!

**Konoha: At His Fingertips** _by MegaB_

Chapter 4: All Change, Please

Schizophrenia. A long-term mental disorder of a type involving a breakdown in the relation between thought, emotion, and behaviour, leading to faulty perception, inappropriate actions and feelings, withdrawal from reality and personal relationships into fantasy and delusion, and a sense of mental fragmentation. That was what the doctors had said at Konoha Central Hospital, but he couldn't reconcile the words they were telling him with who he was and the amazing achievements of his past. He had been the one to pull the great nation of fire from the jaws of the tiger, crushing the opposition in Ame and reducing Kumogakure to their proverbial knees.

He had just had a bad day, that was all. His Shinobi were avoiding him, he'd woken up in a strange position and he had a funny feeling that the water beneath him was a urine sample, though how that had gotten all the way to Hokage Tower in one piece only to smash on his person, he had no idea. And now, sitting up in a lonely bleach-white room with Root agents posted outside, he had time to ponder on the perpetrators of his sudden paranoia.

He was twitchy, jumping at the slightest noises. His eyes travelled from the single green door to the clear windows and back again, constantly shifting, wondering where, which avenue his phantasmagorical enemy would burst in to claim his prestigious soul. He gave a start; maybe they wouldn't come from either, maybe they'd use far less conventional means! What would he do in this situation?

He laboriously rose from the bed to check beneath it. He shifted around the room, pulling his analysis machinery with him as he opened the small door to the en-suite bathroom. After unscrewing every lid on every bottle within and laying them on the sink counter, he ambled back out into the room and peered, blearily around. This could not be. Something was wrong. He was sure he was being watched, especially after that dream he'd had. Yes, that absolutely terrifying dream where Uchiha Itachi himself had come back to Konoha acting as if he were an ANBU captain! It was fishy, so very fishy.

He glanced at the ceiling and a glinting metal grille caught his eye. Of course, he crowed mentally, maintenance shafts would be the best place a would-be assassin could lie in wait to assassinate the most important of targets, how had he not thought of it before?

As he pulled a chair beneath the cover and pulled himself up, groaning as the needles attached to his body became taut and pulled his skin painfully, the afternoon nurse stepped through the door.

"Danzou-Sama! Whatever are you doing? Come down from there at once! You should be in bed!" She said.

"Silence, insufferable woman! Have you no idea that an enemy Shinobi may be trying to kill me as I rest? Where are my guards?" He spat, spittle rolling off his lips. The nurse winced, disgusted at the man's behaviour but she would not have her patient acting like this.

"Either you get down from there or I shall let Dr. Inoue know that you will require another week to recover!"

His guards entered the room in confusion, drawn to the angry voices warring with each other within.

"Excellent! Guards, detain this woman! She is no doubt an enemy spy, determined to distract me so that her compatriots can murder me when my back is turned!"

It was a testament to their sheer emotionless personalities that they stopped themselves from glancing at one another in bewilderment.

"Godaime-Sama, Hikari-san is the afternoon nurse in charge of your ward," the one on the right murmured.

"Hikari you say? I once had a son named similar, or was it my daughter?"

And as the old man trailed off with his inane mutterings, the three managed to coerce him back to ground level. Hikari stood massaging her nose at the headache dealing with the man had brought.

"Look, would you take a walk in the yard or something? Rest your head and calm your nerves. When you come back, we'll see about getting your next dose of medication. You two," she ordered, pointing at the Née operatives. "Take Danzou-Sama with you and make sure he doesn't come back until he's calm!"

Rotating on the spot, she stormed from the room, leaving the door open behind her. This time, the two Shinobi did look to each other for guidance. One shrugged and the other took it as his clue to gently guide the hobbling man out the door and down the corridor with his teammate unobtrusively bringing up the rear.

When they stepped outside, the glorious sunshine striking their bodies with an energetic warmth only it could provide, Danzou began to fret with greater anxiety before. His eyes began to shake, zipping around the greenery, focusing on every possible hiding space that occurred to him. He gave a great shout and pointed to a bush off to their right, only to turn and repeat the same action in another direction. The two Root members began to sweat; they had always had problems dealing with their psychotic leader before but this was on a far greater level than they'd ever experienced. Something must have happened to him when he collapsed that day, or perhaps he was simply building up to this point all these years.

One of the agents was forced to gallop around the small garden, checking under branches, scraping back leaves and pulling up roots, ironically enough, all the while searching for non-existent antagonists that only Danzou could see. But like a loyal soldier, he bore the strain and kept at it for the mental stability of his leader.

Danzou was perspiring heavily, his eyes bloodshot and his tongue almost hanging from his mouth as he panted. He was squinting hard every which way, unable to identify the information his mind was telling him. His heart was sounding in his ears and ringing throughout his mind; surely, surely it was a Genjutsu? He had never felt like this before, but it seemed as if an expert practitioner of the mental arts had grasped him under his thumb.

"Gentlemen, it seems as if we are under a powerful illusion. We must prevent this threat at all costs!" He shouted the last bit as if it would frighten his imagined opponents away.

"Err, Hokage-Sama, I don't think anyone-"

"That is exactly what they would have you believe!" He hissed. "I want you to spread out and find the one who has set up such an elaborate trap. See if he would like to join us; I always value strength such as this."

The agents hesitated for a moment, unsure of whether to convince their leader that it was all in his mind, but their training won out and they dispersed, secretly relieved to no longer be in his presence. Danzou sighed heavily, though he still felt odd, he was happy that his men were working to solve it. You could never know if even they weren't compromised. He was better off on his own for the moment.

And then he felt it.

Chakra surged through the air, diffusing heavily, throwing a huge blanket over his already troubled mind. He suddenly found it very hard to breathe, almost wanting to fall to the ground in fatigue. His breath came harder and faster, his eyes blurring even more than before. His heartbeat thumped erratically as he hobbled frantically, searching for the power surge's epicentre. His back became bent as the pressure grew, his stomach turning nauseously. Something exploded about a half mile away and a shout rose up, so terrible and haunting, a cry of a wolf seeking the prey who killed his children.

"**!"**

His eyes widened to impossible proportions, his eyeballs trembling in abject terror. He turned and began to limp as fast as he could for the door back to the Hospital. He had to reach it, reach the safety of the in-doors, just-just get away from this rabid thing that was after him! He'd survived far worse hadn't he? He'd survived two Shinobi Wars! He could survive this, this was nothing.

This was nothing!

The wall behind him exploded. A violent burst of brick and mortar catapulting through the air like a Chakra-bomb had detonated on the other side. The shockwave rippled outwards, throwing him to the ground as pebbles and cement shrapnel bounced off his trembling body. He felt his bowel loosen, and in that moment he realised that maybe that water hadn't been a urine sample, perhaps it had been his own excrement like it was now.

Through the smoke strode the very devil himself: The Nine-tailed fox, the Kyuubi-no-Youko, the demon with no peer. But no, he counted only five tails, but that was enough. The idiot child who the Yondaime had foolishly sealed it into had no doubt allowed the seal to be broken and it was unleashed upon the world once more. Its tails whipped about its head, red as blood, its coat shimmering like a thousand stars in a massacred sky. Steam rose from an open-mouth, to which shining canines honed to their very points were revealed. But the eyes, the eyes were the worst, for there were no eyes.

Only empty, soulless white orbs that seemed to take in every lie, every failure that he had ever committed.

"No-No! S-Stay away from me! Freak! Monster! I-I'm the Hokage!" He cried, his voice rattling with intense fear. Yet the beast strode forward, a clawed hand, he thought it looked like a hand – or was it a paw? – reached out towards him. He scrabbled backwards, trying to put as much space between himself and the nightmare that stood before him.

"**Danzou,"** the thing whispered, and its whisper was worse than its shout. **"You have one chance to tell me why the HELL you sent Kakashi to die!"**

The man could only whimper, pitifully. Naruto's anger sky-rocketed and the Kyuubi's coat rippled in response, its colour becoming closer to black than red. Chakra was pouring from him like a never-ending ocean, the grass began to wilt, the trees shrivel. The entire area was as silent as a graveyard, and Danzou didn't even begin to wonder where his Shinobi were nor the hospital staff. His eyes could only linger on the crumbled debris that used to be a wall and the dangerously sharp teeth and claws of the animal facing him.

"I-I-I-I-"

"**THEN YOU DIE." **It said.

His heart stopped.

Danzou's shuddering eyes and body became still in rigor-mortis and his elbow collapsed from under him causing him to fall to the ground. There were a few small popping sounds, and suddenly, his bandages began to bulge with spherical shaped protrusions.

To say Naruto was shocked was an understatement. All his anger left him in one great rush, leaving him staring, disbelievingly, at the dead body of a man lying in his own, foul ordure. He immediately gagged at the smell and covered his mouth and nose with his T-Shirt.

"Naruto! What happened?" Anko shouted as she landed beside him, Kakashi leaning on Shisui's shoulder as they too approached.

"I…actually have no clue," he pointed. "One moment, I'm screaming at him, and the next, he just plops over like that."

Shisui nudged Anko forward, and she stepped cautiously up to the old man's body, scowling at the Uchiha all the while. She touched a steel-plated toe to his chest.

"He's dead," she deadpanned. "I can't believe it. He's actually dead."

"Are you sure you only shouted at him?" Shisui asked, glancing at Naruto dubiously.

"Of course I'm sure!" He argued hotly. "I didn't even touch him! This is Nami no Kuni all over again!"

"Nami no Kuni?" Shisui asked.

"Urgh," Naruto groaned. "Back when I went around the Ninja countries. I went to Wave and suddenly, somehow, I ended up stabbing this guy and killing him. He was all evil and stuff so no worries."

"You suddenly ended up stabbing someone," Shisui repeated faintly.

"OI! What's going on here?"

A blond man rushed up to them, two others following close behind.

"Inoichi, ain't that Danzou?" the fat one asked.

"I think it is," the lazy one replied, intelligent eyes fixed on the body.

"Yo, Chouza, Shikaku," Anko greeted.

"Anko," the blond nodded before turning to the other three. "Shisui, Kakashi-san. Oh my-"

"Is that-" Chouza started.

"It is!" Shikaku shouted joyously in recognition.

"NARUTO!" Inoichi screamed as he tackled the teenager. His two teammates began to laugh boisterously, eyes shining happily as they came up to him, alternately hugging him and slapping his back. And then suddenly, they were surrounded by a deluge of human bodies, cheering and chanting his name as if he were Namikaze Minato himself.

"You came back!" A woman cried. "I always knew you would! You see that Houcho! You see that! I was right all this time! Naruto-kun is made of stronger stuff than most!"

The crowd pressed in, the dead body forgotten, and Shisui smiled wryly; it was a testament to just how badly Danzou had led the Village that nobody even cared that he was dead. He glanced around idly; it was odd that Root was nowhere to be seen however. Surely they'd be out for Naruto's blood right now? He shook his head, ignoring his thoughts. The Villagers had begun to celebrate in their jubilation, throwing their hands in the air and hugging each other close. It was the Kyuubi's defeat all over again, except without the muted tones of loss and despair tainting the mood.

And then the crowd split in half almost like a huge boulder pushed into the middle of a fast-flowing river. And down the aisle, strode the determined forms of Senju Tsunade and Jiraiya, the two most-respected Shinobi of the Village. They stopped a few metres from the four, Tsunade slightly ahead, Jiraiya smiling crazily. But Naruto did not see him, he only had eyes for his pseudo-grandmother. She regarded him grimly, her expression stony, and suddenly the crowd was silent. It was as if they had never been there.

A breeze played through the tightly-packed bodies, catching the woman's blonde pigtails and sending them fluttering, along with her coat-tails, in the wind. And they were suddenly crushing each other in a bone-breaking embrace, tears falling, unchecked, from her eyes, his own lip wobbling dangerously.

"Don't you ever, _ever ever ever,_ do that again," she whispered through gritted teeth. "Never, _never again!_"

Naruto found himself nodding, afraid that if he said anything, sobs would be quick to follow. The crowd started up again, their noise even louder than before, many crying at the touching scene they were witnessing. Jiraiya approached them, slinging a single arm over the two hugging people and grinning lopsidedly.

"You so came back at a bad time kiddo. Danzou is-"

He froze as Anko gestured towards the side of the hospital, funnily enough, which had the doctors and nurses, the injured patients, all hanging from windows and balconies and cheering along with the crowd.

Jiraiya smiled, and it was a demented smile. Kakashi and Shisui shivered at that smile. It was vindictive.

"Ohohohoho!" He laughed, striding up to the body. "Look what we have here!"

"Oh my GOOOOOOOD, Danzou is dead!" He screeched before dissolving into bouts of uncontrollable mirth.

"I-I swear I didn't kill him! I just, I just shouted at him a bit, for-for sending Kakashi on a suicide mission and he just falls over and Anko says he's dead! It's not my fault!" Naruto said hurriedly, but Jiraiya blew him off.

"Ah, don't worry about a thing Gaki. He got what was coming to him," he glared down at the body, all happiness disappearing. "He had a lot to answer for. To be honest, we're all better off without him.

"BUT!" Jiraiya shouted, quieting the crowd. "Whoever shall be Hokage now?"

And another great cry went up, shouts and chants of "NARUTO" erupting from all around. Naruto stood stock-still, Tsunade's arms still around him. It was like being underwater. He could hear, but he couldn't quite hear all the same. His brain refused to believe what his ears were telling him. Jiraiya faced him, his friends faced him. Even Tsunade loosened her hold to grant him a watery smile.

"Looks like that's settled then," Jiraiya whispered, and even though it was said so quietly, it had an odd finality about it.

As time passed and Naruto took to meeting everyone, shaking their hands and apologising profusely for leaving for all the time he did, Kakashi, Anko and Shisui looked on with pride.

"He's just like his father," Kakashi murmured, causing the other two to start. "He pulls people to him without meaning to. He could try to kill someone and they'd still end up being his greatest friend."

Anko snorted happily.

"I always knew it. From the moment he hit me with that rock and landed me in the hospital," Shisui smiled.

"It's things like these that make me want to stay in Konoha, ya know?" Anko muttered and the other two nodded.

"He's the thing keeping us together. Even now, when I thought I had nothing left, he came back and pulled us back in like we're all tied to his strings," Kakashi said thoughtfully.

Anko quirked an eyebrow.

"That's a really bad way of putting it."

"But true," Shisui acknowledged.

"Haha, don't I know it," Anko said, a single tear slipping from her right eye.

At the back of the crowd, a group of Chuunin stood. Their ex-teammate, brown hair strung up in buns on either side of her head, spun on her heel and slipped away, a melancholic smile vying with wet trails upon her cheeks.

XXXXXX

"So let me get this straight," Naruto said incredulously. "I'm the Hokage, right? As in, the leader of this Village?"

Hokage Tower's secretary, a has-been twenty-something going by the name of Hirano Ren appeared equal parts flustered and awed to be in the presence of such a young, albeit troublesome Hokage.

"Yes," she replied hesitantly. Naruto nodded encouragingly.

"Doesn't that mean I'm like, the strongest guy here?"

"Well no, not necessarily, but it means you were chosen for the post because you were a better candidate than anyone else and held the most characteristics we would need," she answered, still not sure where the blonde was going with this.

"Exactly. And you expect me to go through this, _every day_? Naruto exclaimed with obvious disgust as he pointed at the towering pile of paperwork precariously balanced at the edge of the Sandaime's large oak table.

"That- that's only the morning's load Hokage-Sama. It's important that the right answers are given to the right people," Ren was obviously sweating at this point.

"How about this: I'm the Hokage, and I'm saying you should do it. How long have you been here for again?"

"What? But- well, six years Rokudaime-Dono, but that's not the point! I can't do your work for you! Those are very important decisions that I couldn't possibly understand-"

"Well, you've got the job now," Naruto interrupted. "It's my first order as the Hokage."

As he strolled from the room, a flabbergasted woman trembling in his wake, he passed Jiraiya leaning against the wall with an amused lift of if his lips playing across his features.

"Now why didn't any of the other Hokages ever think of that?" He muttered before following behind the young blond. Naruto twirled his red and white hat on his fingers as he exited the main building, casually walking down the road with not a care in the world. The Village traffic left no opportunity to greet their new leader, smiles and waves and exclamations of adulation everywhere. It was a beautiful day in Konoha; the sun was beaming down upon the sandstone brickwork, dying the houses a fiery orange and the streets an eye-blinding white. A slight breeze blew through the air causing the branches of a row of trees to dance mesmerizingly to a hidden tune. Jiraiya could tell he was happy with the situation so far, though the bombshell he'd dropped on the kid not more than an hour ago would probably start to show through soon.

Naruto took a left and entered the main doors of Konoha Central Hospital, calling a quick hello to the nurse's desk but not stopping since his destination was one he'd frequented in the last three days since he'd returned to the Village again. Jiraiya climbed the stairs behind him, sharing a quick grin before they reached the landing to Kakashi's room.

They stepped in quietly to find Shisui and Anko already there, the former attempting to juggle two apples from Kakashi's fruit bowl with failure and the latter making mince-meat out of another that was probably meant to be peeled and sliced for the patient to eat. All three glanced up as the Gama-Sennin and new Hokage shut the door behind them, watching as Naruto strode over to the small bedside table and pulled a three-pronged Kunai from the pouch at his hip, twirled it twice in the air and slammed it point first into the table's surface.

"Wanna explain what this is Kashi?" Naruto asked evenly. Kakashi merely gaped, his eyes darting between the table and Naruto before finally coming to rest on Jiraiya accusatorially.

"Isn't that…the Yondaime's Kunai?" Anko squinted.

"It is," Shisui replied drily.

"What?" Jiraiya asked.

"Why the heck didn't you tell me?" Naruto enquired, his eyes fixed unblinkingly on Kakashi single visible eye.

"Wait just a sec! You didn't _know_?" Kakashi retorted. "Shouldn't you be asking _him_ that question?"

Jiraiya shrugged his shoulders at Kakashi's finger-pointing.

"Unlike you, I was under a secrecy oath," the old ninja rejoined.

"No-one's blaming anyone here, I just wanna know how it is that the son of your Sensei practically lived with you for years and you didn't once think to tell him about his dad!"

Kakashi winced as if he'd been dealt a painful gut-blow.

"It's not that bad. I always thought you knew. Didn't you think it weird with all the references I made to Minato-Sensei?"

"Of course I did! Hell, half the time I was wondering what the heck the Yondaime had to do with anything whenever you said it," Naruto explained.

"What's going on here, exactly?" Anko suddenly asked.

Naruto gesticulated to the two glaring Shinobi wildly. "These two morons knew all along that Namikaze Minato, the Yondaime Hokage was my dad and they didn't once tell me. I think it'd have been a lot easier on me if I hadn't found out just before blowing his freakin' brains out!"

"Ouch," Shisui muttered. "That's gotta be difficult."

"No kidding," Naruto said exasperatedly. "How many have you got?"

"What?" Kakashi asked dumbly before diving under his blanket for a moment and then pushing himself to the surface. "I'm pretty sure I've always had two."

"Oh shut up man! You know what I meant!" Naruto groaned as the others burst into unbridled laughter. "How many of the Hiraishin Kunai did he give you?"

Kakashi squirmed slightly under the number of stares pointed his way.

"A couple are stashed back at my apartment. I think they're the ones Sensei gave Rin, Obito and I during the mission to Kannabi Bridge when Obito died. That's all.

"It's not like I made a habit of collecting them!" He protested.

"Well you're not as bad as Ero-Sennin. The toad-head here didn't bother to tell me that all the stuff he was teaching me was leading up to learning the Hiraishin."

Cue sudden, suffocating silence.

"You're learning the Hiraishin." Anko murmured rhetorically.

"Oh yeah, it gets better though. I'm more than two-thirds of the way in," Naruto said wryly.

"I told you he'd be strong," Shisui said.

"Strong doesn't quite cut it Shisui. Can you imagine giving a fourteen year-old who already has a friggin' railgun at his beck and call, popping up at the speed of light? We're all gonna die!"

Shisui grinned manically. "I wouldn't be too surprised if I were you. You're talking about the kid who turned the world upside down within the space of a couple of week using Omni-Paint and a extreme sport if you could call it that."

"Let's hope Iwa still come to the Kage Council," Jiraiya shrewdly said.

"There's gonna be a council? Who died this time?" The purple-haired Jounin responded.

"Danzou," he smiled.

"And all of you guys are gonna be there. We've got one week to have Kashi back on his feet," Naruto said.

"It's here? In Konoha?" Shisui asked hurriedly.

"Yeah, no idea how that happened. We're not exactly neutral," Jiraiya muttered.

"Anyway, I got a heap of stuff to do 'cause I'm a busy guy so I gotta go. See you lot later. Oh, and Anko?

"Kashi's gonna die if you try to feed that to him," Naruto threw over his shoulder as he raced out the door.

XXXXXX

The small bell tinkled merrily as the evening sun began to set. TenTen languidly turned the page, not really able to muster enough energy to check out whoever had entered the Higurashi weapon store. Of course, she shouldn't really be reading magazines while manning the store front, but she couldn't bring herself to care about that either.

She just felt sort of…deflated, empty after the emotional rollercoaster her life had become. She'd meant to go say hi to Naruto earlier that day, the rest of the Rookies had done so, but she wasn't brave enough to face him, not after the nightmare he'd been through. She felt her presence might pull it all up once again and he'd hightail it out of there before she got a word in edgewise. In her eyes, Konoha with Naruto in it was better than without even if she wasn't able to speak to him like they used to.

She hadn't considered that he might come to see her. Why would she, when she was as depressed as a black cat whose mouse just got run over by a passing truck?

"Nice shop you got going here Ten-chan."

Her head whipped up so fast she didn't know whether it'd clicked or not. She wasn't sure she'd ever be able to move it again.

"Oh! Oh…umm-"

"Wow, you've been learning a new language too!" He chortled.

"Oh shut up, mister I'll-just-run-away-and-leave-my-friends-alone!"

"That's a freakin' long name! I think I'll stick to Naruto, thanks," he began to laugh, laugh and laugh and laugh. She couldn't help it, drawn into his rhythm, making her laugh and cry till her breath ran short and nothing came out except short, happy breaths. And then they were hugging, holding each other as if they were the only lifelines either of them had. Actually, it was probably her mind exaggerating things again because she was the only one who felt so dead without him there.

"How you been Ten-chan?" he whispered.

"Do you need to ask?" She said, pointing to her streaming eyes.

"Point taken," he said, his arm still slung over her shoulder as he peered around the shop.

"Naoto-San would've been proud you know? Holding up his shop and all."

She wiped at her eyes. The tears just wouldn't stop.

Naruto took a deep breath.

"Hey, how about we have a spar, like old times?"

TenTen jumped at the chance and soon found herself facing her old roommate with a fixable trio of Nunchuks tapping the floor beside her. Naruto unzipped his jacket and tossed it to the side to reveal a mesh T-Shirt and two daggers strapped to his hips. He pulled them from their sheaths.

"What happened to the Wakizashi? The ones with the blue Dragons?"

Naruto shrugged.

"I kinda dropped them when I left Konoha. I guess I was too scared to get them back," he said whimsically.

TenTen grinned melancholically before striding to a small cabinet at the side of the Dojo they were currently situated in. Rummaging in it for a moment, she pulled two leather sheaths from within before handing them to him.

"Are those…?"

"Yup," she chirped.

"You can't be thinking of giving them to me!" Naruto cried.

"Oh shush. You're the one who bought them for me in the first place. You're more likely to use them than I am what with me not being a Shinobi anymore," she replied.

Naruto took them gingerly, placing his own daggers to the side as he slid the two shimmering daggers from their covers. They were every bit as beautiful as he remembered, glimmering prettily from varnished wooden handle to dangerously sharpened edge. As he held them, he marvelled once again at their balance and poise; the beguilingly heavy handle offset by the irregular widening of the latter half of the blade, such that they almost resembled a shrunken cutlass should the end curve any further. The strikingly green dragons curled lazily up the sides, a gossamer glimmer the like of which could not be naturally replicated. And in that instant, he missed his own blades, the ones who'd partnered him through thick and thin. He resolved to track them down as soon as he could.

"Alright, let's do this. Standard rules?" She asked.

"Standard rules," he acknowledged.

On the count of three, TenTen tossed a small coin and as soon as it landed, the two friends sprang at each other, blood pounding in their ears. Through the haze of a good battle, Naruto's blunted edges pounding the sides of her three-part staff. They flipped and ducked, swung and riposted. And then she separated her staff into its native form, Nunchuks whizzing through the air almost too fast to see. The Ante was upped, and Naruto wasn't going down without a fight. TenTen twirled athletically, her arm lashing out, sending the chain whirling towards his head, and suddenly he wasn't there and she was on her back with a blunt edge at her throat, and only her fluttering top as evidence that something untoward had occurred.

"What- what was that?" She panted.

"Tut tut, secrets, secrets, Ten-chan," he grinned.

Naruto flopped down beside her, uncaring that half his arm rested on her own causing goosebumps to grow on her exposed skin. They stared at each other for a while, both too tired to be embarrassed at their proximity.

"Was it the same thing you did in the Chuunin Exams? Against that Jounin with the sword?" She asked, her breath truly her own by then.

"You remember that huh?" He said. "Yeah, it was."

They lay there for a time that stole away from them like a squirrel with its first acorn, the silence comfortable and neither wanting to move just yet. TenTen breathed deeply, her head clearer than it ever was before.

"Naruto?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't leave anymore."

He looked at her then, his eyes clouded with despair. TenTen realised that he'd been thinking about them all that time he'd been away, never a moment without, and it made her heart heavy that she'd been so selfish. She wished dearly that she could go back in time and change the way she'd been as a child, change the bratty, stubborn behaviour that had driven a wedge between her only real friend.

"You're still really good you know?" He murmured. "I reckon you'd beat me if I hadn't cheated there."

"Of course I would," she said, laughingly. "I'm your elder and better after all!"

"I'm not gonna leave again Ten-chan. I'm done with running away."

He turned to look up at the ceiling and she feared that should she interrupt, he'd not say something important.

"I realised something after all that happened when Sarutobi-Jiji died. Everyone has their faults and problems, but the people who get up there with the best, the people who we remember as the heroes of our world, they were the ones who overcame their own weaknesses and never gave in to them."

He stood up slowly, brushing invisible lint from his three-quarters, before helping her up.

"I want to be like that. I want to be able to look back on my life and say that I never gave in even if something bad happened."

She groaned.

"What?" Naruto complained.

"Don't tell me you're getting all philosophical on me now! Who'd you spend the last few years with? A dying old man?"

"Actually…."

"No way, seriously?" she chortled.

"About that…."

And they walked back towards the room above the shop, chatting freely as two reunited friends always do. There were no titles or petty squabbles to come between them this time, both had matured and out-grown their previous selves.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

THE END.

Haha, not really. Actually, I seriously considered ending It here. Things are really getting busy for me and I find myself opening my chapters less and less. How I wish I had the time I used to…

Anyway, this was the chapter many of you have been waiting for. I killed some more clichés here as I usually do and I hope it was worth the wait. I know 5k words is rather paltry, what with the long (months?) wait, but I'm still writing although for how long, I'm not sure. Hopefully I'll be able to finish KaHF at least.

Anyway, enjoy it and let me know if it lived up to your expectations.

All the best,

MegaB


	5. Council of the Five Kage

Konoha: At His Fingertips _by MegaB_

Chapter 5: Council of the Five Kage

The Sun's rays shone brightly through his curtains, the fabric shifting almost lazily like a sunbathing cat. As he turned in his dreams, a spoke of light caught his eyelid, jolting him awake. Sudden consciousness like that was hard to shake off and most of the time one would not be able to regain the peaceful slumber that had been lost. Naruto groaned languidly, sitting up with bleary eyes squinting at the illuminated bedroom that seemed to mock him for no reason he could discern.

He remained perched at the back of his bed for more than a few minutes simply staring around without any real purpose. Nobody would be able to tell that the short blond-headed teenager was the military leader of one of the five world powers in the Shinobi Continent if they'd seen him now. His gaze drifted idly to the simple calendar he'd taped the wall so long ago. Immediately, his eyes caught onto a large red circle someone had penned onto the current day.

He remained staring at it for a while, unable to understand just why the words 'Council 5K' were generating such alarm in his groggy mind.

That is, until someone slammed a fist on his bedroom door.

"Naruto, wake the hell up you lazy Hokage! To think I'd have to come get you because _you slept in on the most important day of your measly life!_"

Ah, he thought, that must be Anko. And what does she mean by the most important day of my life? Wasn't that a week ago when I was forced into being the new Hokage?

Sadly, the term of his emplacement had a startling effect on his mind and suddenly he remembered just what his calendar had meant to remind him of.

Throwing his duvet off, he raced into the hall, bowling Anko aside on his way to the bathroom, sparing a moment to wave at Shisui who was calmly perusing the morning's paper and Kakashi who seemed content to lean against the wall trying to look cool.

An interesting start to what would no doubt be an interesting day.

XXXXXXXXX

Izumo and Kotetsu had been given guard duties again. Of course, the world was scheming against them since it was all they ever seemed to get, not that they'd realised just yet. Most probably they never would too.

"So, in about 15 minutes, all five Kage are gonna walk through that gate, huh?" Izumo pondered.

"Yeah, seems like we've finally got the honour we deserve now that Naruto's the Hokage. I knew we'd be rewarded for slacking off all those times we didn't catch him for his pranks," yes, they would never notice.

The first to arrive was the imposing form of the Raikage. Kumogakure no Sato had cut all ties with Hi no Kuni after Naruto had left, stating anti-trust agreement which nobody quite understood. To those close to the Uzumaki Scion, it was quite simply that the only person the Lightning country natives liked had left and that was that. The Hyuuga had breathed a collective sigh of relief although some said Hiashi's sigh was _because_ of the reason and not Kumo's alliance at all.

The Raikage stepped steadily through the gate, his large body shadowing his entourage, all of which had been seen at the Chuunin Exams three years prior. Killer Bee now sported strange headgear which looked to be a tea towel wrapped around his cranium. His many swords were a terribly frightening sight however, so Kotetsu nudged Izumo in the side and they both glanced onwards.

Following up behind them were Kumo's infamous Sanken, Samui, Karui and Omoi and behind them was the Nibi's host, Yugito. The six of them stopped beside the guard booth and as the Raikage turned to enquire after their lodgings, the rest slouched around. Samui massaged her shoulders, complaining all the while about her two teammates while Karui and Omoi broke into another argument over something mindlessly inconsequential. Bee seemed to find rapping as loud as he could to himself amusing and it was only Yugito who edged herself calmly away from them as if she really didn't want to be associated with the oddballs she'd been forced to travel with.

"Go straight to the Hokage's tower and you'll be met at the door. They'll lead you to the meeting room where you'll see the rest of the Kage and their bodyguards. A word of warning though, our new Hokage is not to be trifled with," Kotetsu recited, scarcely believing his last few words and glancing fearfully at the man who was the strongest fighter in all of the northern lands.

The Raikage's dish-like hand shot out and grabbed him by his collar.

"Do you know who you're talking to, little man?" He growled.

"S-sorry, th-that's just what I was told to say," Kotetsu stammered. Izumo simply stood stock-still as if he'd seen a ghost.

"Bah! C'mon guys, let's go see Naruto!" to which all five cheered. The Raikage released him and after a single contemptuous look backwards, started off towards the centre of the Village. Luckily, there were two ANBU squads attached to each country's leader, leaving the entire force on duty that day.

Kotetsu had a few moments to compose himself before the next group arrived, this time bearing the hitai-ites of Suna.

This was maybe, even more frightening than the last; Gaara's exploits and fixation with holes made even his own countrymen quake at the mere mention of his name. They'd all taken to calling him 'the Kazekage'. The Suna entourage was smaller than Kumo's, comprised of four people including the Kazekage himself. To his right and left were his siblings Temari and Kankurou, and just behind them, reading from an unfurled scroll was their old Sensei Baki.

They too paused beside the guard house with their own enquiries.

"Where is Uzumaki Naruto?" Gaara asked, his unblinking, unflinching stare boring holes into the poor Chuunin like they were bugs before him. Izumo hurriedly clamped his mouth shut, sucked air quickly through his nostrils to have the skin seal around them and thank the stars that Kotetsu was ideally placed to answer the Kazekage's questions.

"U-Um, p-please head to the H-Hokage tower where you'll be g-given further instructions," He spoke haltingly.

Gaara continued to stare at the pair for a moment, quirking his head ever-so-slightly at Izumo's rapidly colouring, oxygen-deprived head before turning on his heel with a sharp nod and continuing onwards towards the balustrade entering the Village proper. Temari and Kankurou snickered as they walked past, though Baki simply remained with his face stuck within the confines of his parchment and whatever he found so interesting on its surface.

Izumo expelled air in one explosive rush, falling to his knees at having held his breath for so long.

"What is wrong with you?" Kotetsu asked, shivering comically.

"Y-you're not one to t-talk. I seriously thought he was going to plug any holes he saw with that blasted sand of his. If that meant my nose and mouth…" Izumo said breathlessly.

"W-well, that should be the worst of them, r-right? I mean, the other Kage are sane people aren't they?"

"Excuse me," someone said.

"I hope so. There was a war in Kiri up until last year so we'd probably get a serious Mizukage this time around-"

"Excuse me!" the same squeaky voice called out.

Izumo and Kotetsu glanced around in confusion before shaking themselves. There was nobody in sight.

"True, and the Tsuchikage's really old and tiny, I've heard-"

"Well I _apologise for my old and tiny body you measly weasels!_"

The two glanced down to find an old man with twin wisps of white hair flying angrily on either side of his head and a nose that was so red, he looked like he had a terrible cold. He stood about four feet above the ground, a flowing moustache upon his lip and a pointed beard almost to his sternum. The crimson and emerald robes of his station as the third Tsuchikage stood out like a sore thumb however, and the two Chuunin gawked with obvious surprise.

"Now would you, _please_, hurry up and stop insulting my height and tell us where to go while you're at it!" he growled.

"Oh relax Tsuchikage-sama," a deep, rumbling voice said, originating from a stomach that seemed just as deep in girth.

"He's right Oonoki," the other bodyguard responded. "You don't want to get your blood pressure up do you?"

"Silence, Kurotsuchi! How dare you insult me like that?!" the Tsuchikage replied angrily.

Said Kurotsuchi simply smiled in a placating manner as if the sight of his curved lips were the answer to everything and Kotetsu began to wonder that maybe the only people who became stronger than everyone else were actually the people who were crazier than everyone else too.

"Follow the main road into the city till you reach a large circular building with the word 'Hi' on it," Izumo said quickly, wanting to alleviate the pressure on his friend.

"About time children! My old bones are creaking because of your time-wasting!" Oonoki wheezed, beginning to hobble down the street slowly, his two companions beside him. As soon as they were out of earshot, Kotetsu cast a disbelieving eye at his teammate.

"That…tiny old man is a Kage?!"

"What tiny old man?" and suddenly, a bandaged face swam into view before them, not but an inch from Kotetsu's nose.

The new Mizukage, it seems, had just arrived.

XXXXXXXXXXX

"How intelligent you are Hokage-sama; everyone turns up to see you and you rub it in by turning up late! I wouldn't be surprised if we have a war on our hands! Iwa already hates us!" Anko complained, trying to keep up with her sprinting companions and talking at the same time.

"Hey, I never said I was the right person for this job anyway! Try telling Jiji that Anko-nee!" Naruto replied.

"Oh yeah, blame it on the dead guy," she retorted.

"Maa maa, Sandaime-Sama was responsible, so maybe he does have a point," Kakashi snuck in. Shisui began to snigger as Anko happily glared at everyone.

"What she's really irked about is that she has to pull bodyguard duty on 'Ruto," Shisui offered.

"What if I'm attacked?!" Naruto asked indignantly.

"We won't even be able to pick up all the pieces," Anko snorted. "And I mean of the guys who attacked you, not you."

"Can't we all just feel the love?" Kakashi smirked.

Naruto ignored his squabbling companions as he hit the ground running, Hokage cloak streaming behind him and his hat askew as he charged through the double doors at the base of Hokage tower, not even sparing a glance for poor Ren whose head was buried under towering stacks of paper that he should probably have been processing. Taking the stairs three at a time, he cut into the first floor and only had time to stop and take in a couple of breaths before slamming the door to the conference room open with a huge bang, and swaggering right in as if he owned the place.

Which he did, but those are details best left forgotten for ego's sake.

Of course, he was totally unprepared for the sight his eyes were met with.

"Gaara! Since when did you become Kazekage?" He called enthusiastically, his head only then beginning to take in the rest of the room. "Bee! How's it goin'man?...who's the old guy?"

The Tsuchikage's gaze immediately turned frosty and Anko cringed as she only just entered the room. That was a bad start for Iwa-Hi relations already.

Sitting beside Oonoki was a sight nobody had expected to see at all. Perfectly balanced, long black hair elegantly flowing from his head, this time a hitai-ite adorning his forehead sat none other than Haku. Behind him stood the infamous demon of the Hidden Mist; Zabuza remained his imposing self, glaring at everyone and fingering his Kubikiri Houcho as if he were simply itching to chop somebody's head off.

"So Momochi Zabuza-san, how did you make it to Mizukage?" Kakashi said, he and Shisui sidling up to stand beside Anko.

"You think I'm the Mizukage?! Bah! Don't make me laugh!" he snarled, his pointy teeth peeking through the bandages around his mouth. "The gender-confused brat's the Mizukage, I'm his attack dog."

"Did he just call himself a dog?" Shisui whispered.

"Oh yes, and I'm perfectly alright with that as long as I get to kill people," Zabuza retorted, a dangerous glint in his eye. "And there are no shortages of people to kill in Kiri right now. Makes for a good breakfast."

Kakashi eyed the man for a while longer, not sure he trusted him in Naruto's presence until he hollered for all to hear.

"Oy Gaki! How's life been as life's little rebel eh? Keeping in trouble I hope?"

Naruto smiled in delight, clapping Haku on the back as he turned to the Demon of the Mist.

"You're not looking so bad yourself Saw-tooth!"

"Who you calling Saw-tooth, midget? I've got more than enough to spare on the likes of you!" Zabuza yelled.

"Oh, but they're so pretty!" Naruto crooned. That seemed to shut him up. Naruto turned back to the young Mizukage.

"So Haku, how come you're the Mizukage now, huh, huh? Naruto asked excitedly.

"Is it just me, or does Naruto have way too many friends in high places?" Anko muttered.

"Are you kidding me, Anko? He practically rules the world at this point," Shisui replied. "Three of the four other Kage either have a vested interest in him, or are his friends. At the rate he's going, he'll have carnivals set up in each of the hidden villages with all those extreme sports!"

It was a testament to just how frightening that thought was when Anko gaped in horror.

"Naruto-dono, Zabuza-sama refused to become Mizukage after the rebels retook the country from the feudal lord and his followers. He decided I was the best person for the job," Haku said bashfully.

"Well, definitely better than Saw-tooth over there; he'd probably just end up killing all his ninja. And hey! What have I told you about being so uptight?" Naruto said.

"How…do you know Naruto?" Gaara chipped in, his monotonous voice causing silence to reign once more. His reputation was known so well that even the bodyguards present shuffled uneasily at the sound of his voice.

"Me and Haku go way back, Gaara!" Naruto said, slapping the Kazekage on the back and causing everyone to gasp and wince and move as far away as possible. If Gaara became annoyed, nobody wanted to be within a fifty mile radius.

"Naruto-dono's Sensei, Jiraiya-sama, helped us during our victory over the old Mizukage and his Shinobi. All the free citizens of Kiri are indebted to them," Haku spoke softly.

"I see," Gaara replied. "Do you like holes?"

If the escorts were scared before, they were practically quivering by now. Kankurou and Temari began to edge their way out of the room. Haku, however, was very confused.

"Holes? I can't say I do. What significance does that have Kazekage-dono?"

"Good," Gaara said with a decisive nod as if he'd gotten the precise answer he was looking for and approved of it. "All holes should be plugged, should they not?"

"Ah, I suppose," Haku muttered, glancing at Naruto in bewilderment.

"Oh don't worry about Gaara, Haku. He's just a bit crazy about holes, that's all. Nothing wrong with that!"

There was something _very_ wrong with that, of course, but everyone was too scared to admit it.

"So Naruto, how goes your training?" The Raikage boomed jovially. "Smashed any more trees recently?"

"Haha, funny question. Ya know what, man? Ero-Sennin told me it was all for learning this damned cool Jutsu my dad knew back in the day. It even has a name and everything! How cool is that?!"

"What kinda Jutsu makes you slam into trees though?" Omoi asked around the toothpick he seemed to forever chew.

"It's called the Hiraishin!" Naruto chirped.

Anko shivered at the silence that fell in the room. It was an unearthly silence, a silence that wrapped itself around an environment filled with people, but those people could not be heard, could not move, nor did their hearts seem to beat.

And it lasted a while too. Until, of course, it was broken by an old man with a grudge spanning many decades and a red nose to boot.

"H-HIRAISHIN!?" The Tsuchikage squeaked. "Y-YOU CAN'T LEARN THAT! YOU'RE NOT ONE OF THAT BLASTED NAMIKAZE'S BLOODLINE!"

"Did you even hear him man? He just said his dad _was_ the Yondaime Hokage," Kankurou offered in awe.

"Naruto's strong, yo! His dad don't mean no!" Bee said, but everyone ignored him.

It took a while for them to digest that tidbit of information, in fact, it seemed as if the Tsuchikage would never recover from the indigestion.

"Maa, I think we need to get down to business," Kakashi cut in.

XXXXXXXXX

They landed softly, wind playing through the quaint, long grass as if a many fingered hand were gently brushing itself across the field. However, the breeze reached a hollow bowl stretching over a large expanse, the surface of which was entirely glass.

This was, after all, the last known location of Higurashi Naoto's trade caravan.

Jiraiya whistled lowly, passing a critical eye over the environmental anomaly.

"That had to be one hot fire," he remarked, glancing over at his on-again teammate. For her part, Tsunade never broke conversation, only flicking her eyes casually to the left to announce the presence of their pursuer.

"You can come out now, Sou-Taichou-san," Jiraiya called.

The figure materialised almost imperceptibly; one moment there was nothing and the next a human was standing not two paces from the Sannin-turned-duo. There was neither a sound nor any other warning to announce its presence.

"Jiraiya-sama, Tsunade-sama," the figure greeted, not in the slightest abashed at being caught out. In fact, they'd probably known they were being shadowed since before they had left Konoha's hallowed walls, but neither of them would point it out either.

Tsunade maintained her Chakra net as the three advanced cautiously, stepping carefully onto the surface that was mildly warm to touch. They could still feel traces of the heat that had turned the sand plane to glass through the soles of their footwear.

"Uchiha handiwork, no doubt about it," Jiraiya muttered.

It was early morning, mists from the sleepy beach towns floating down from Kiri and invading the countryside outside of Bassai. The sun had not yet risen and the air was still a murky navy blue, with tints of grey swirling low across the ground. Ever more unsettling was the effect this had on the surface of the glass bowl; the fog having condensed in patches, glittering ominously though not lit enough to reveal anything below its surface.

They poked further along, stopping infrequently to stare ponderously down, attempting to make out anything within the flash-baked structure below their feet. Jiraiya almost shivered; if they were fortunate, or maybe truly unfortunate, something might still be alive down there even though it had been over two years since the event had occurred.

"Right about here," Tsunade announced. "The largest Chakra signature is right below our current position so it either happened here, or some damn strong guy went down all guns-blazing."

Jiraiya settled onto his haunches, peering below just as the first of the sun's rays touched the surface of the glass. Before, he would have said the construct was disconcerting; a material that appeared to be slightly hollow, shifting ever so slightly as if an unknown creature was moving around down there. The answers it held but refused to give up granted it an air of mystery that creeped the hell out of him.

But that was nothing, nothing compared to what happened next. There was a brief flash of light, reflection bursting upon the unexpected eye, but that faded as fast as it came. Tsunade gasped involuntarily and made to hastily step back until she realised what she was seeing.

There were bodies down there, at least, parts of bodies, and the light, as it struck at its angle, couldn't penetrate the depths of the crystalline glass completely, and so the onlookers were left with fleeting glimpses of heads and eyes and errant appendages.

The sand had crystallised faster than a human body could burn.

They shook off their shock after a few moments as best as possible, Jiraiya touching the surface with a shaking Chakra-coated finger. The glass rippled like water yet held firm.

"Chakra glass," the ANBU member said softly. "As long as elemental fire is used, the trace of chakra will be visible."

Tsunade was worried now. She'd cancelled the net and was running through field diagnostics at an impressive rate. The ANBU captain unsheathed a worn Chokuto and pressed the tip into the ground. The sword slipped easily through its surface though it made no visible hole nor blemish on its surface.

"No doubt about it, it's definitely been done using a Katon or two," Jiraiya remarked. "This would have to be Itachi's work. There's nobody on the earth who could pull this off but him."

"Well, except Sarutobi, but he was verifiably in Konoha," Tsunade said distractedly. "There's clearly something down there though. I think the Chakra signature is still here because not only did whoever burn the whole place do it from here, but also…"

"Also what?" Jiraiya asked.

"There's something else. Something I can't quite put my finger on. It's almost as if…a tenketsu, that's the best analogy I can give."

"Like an unopened gate channel?" Jiraiya inquired.

"Exac-"

With a mighty flare of Chakra and a dull gong, the air around them suddenly shone with an otherworldly light. Jiraiya hastily stood and backed up until the three of them stood side-by-side, staring wondrously up at the huge sigil that blossomed into view like a magnified diamond. Glowing fog flitted around its curves, lines swirling until they met up with the centre of the sign, spinning slowly as if it had always been there.

"Uzu…" Tsunade breathed softly.

"No," Jiraiya said faintly. "That's not where Uzu got that from."

Tsunade turned to stare at him in bewilderment but it wasn't he who answered.

"The Eddian Library," the ANBU Captain-Commander answered. "Higurashi-san found an artefact."

Slowly, the ANBU member reached up to remove the mask that had stood unerringly upon stiff shoulders. As it came away, it revealed locks of dark red hair that spilled from the strap that had held it up all this time.

Uzumaki Marina breathed slowly at the implication.

"It doesn't make sense, Marina-chan," Jiraiya said.

"Please don't use my name," she whispered, stepping forward and tracing the structure with her hand almost reverently. "I was banished for a reason."

"Wasn't the library completely destroyed? Kushina told us there wasn't anything left."

"Perhaps not," was his only reply.

Marina was Kushina's cousin, where Kushina had been flighty and brash, Marina was calm and collected. She had entered Konoha many years before Kushina had, though no one knew quite how she had become exiled from Uzu no Kuni before the war had torn the country to shreds. They hadn't been close, her and Kushina, Marina had spent more time with her Chokuto in ANBU than with another human being.

Jiraiya couldn't begin to imagine what was going through the woman's mind. Anger at her exile? Or just relief that there was something of her origins left in this world?

"Well it was probably triggered by my prodding," Tsunade confessed, glancing shakily at the shifting floor. "Whatever it was, it was damn powerful. Someone wanted to cover this up, and didn't mind blowing up the whole place to do it."

"Maybe not Itachi then? I can't see Akatsuki not wanting to get their hands on it if it's that powerful," Jiraiya effused.

"No, it was Itachi," Marina murmured, her gaze still riveted to the glowing talisman floating above them. "This would be under the scope of his mission."

"His mission?" Tsunade asked sharply. Sarutobi had hidden many things from them once the Sannin had split, understandably so given his position. But this sounded too important.

"Yes," Marina whispered. "His final mission."

XXXXXXX

"So lemme get this straight," Naruto groused. "This hurt guy-"

"Pain, Naruto. That's his actual name," Anko said exasperatedly.

"Yeah him. So he's coming to kill me or whatever, just because Tobi couldn't?"

"That's right little man," the Raikage intoned. "Guy's got a grudge cause his underling got snuffed."

"And how do you know this?!" The Tsuchikage squeaked, though everybody knew the fight had gone out of him since Naruto's previous proclamation. He was just an annoying old man by nature.

"Because we've been monitoring them, how else?" the Raikage sighed. "I've had recon teams pulling fortnightly runs across the border since the Konoha Chuunin Exams. We haven't always seen them, but having most of the last team eliminated and one guy let go for a madman's ego is enough proof for me."

"Well, that does sound convincing," Shisui offered.

"Which way did your spy say he was going?" Gaara pulled their attention back to the most important point.

"Let's assume he's coming from Ame no Kuni," Samui said, stepping forward quickly. "Pain would have to loop through Kusa to get into Hi unnoticed. The border is too heavily guarded after the civil war and Salamander's death for him to have come straight in."

"What if he didn't come from Ame? I've heard rumours that their base is off the coast from Kiri," Kakashi said.

"We've heard that too," Samui acknowledged with a tilt of her head. "But the team he took down was running patrol up the edge of Kusa since Hi's Shinobi have been practically relocated elsewhere."

The subtle jab at Danzou's leadership was simply ignored at this point.

As the adults began to discuss the latest emergency, Naruto was feeling very bored. The threat of sudden, violent death no longer affected him now that Madara was dead. He'd come through such a frightening ordeal that he no longer felt scared because another crazy was after him again.

"Psst, Haku! Oiiii Haku!" Naruto whispered quietly, tapping the young Mizukage on the knee.

You see, the Hokage tower attendants had passed through five minutes before, bringing with them trays laden with a triple layered cream cake. This cake was Naruto's favourite thing about the Council, in fact, it could be said that the only reason the date had been circled on his calendar was because of the cake they would serve.

Apparently, the cooks only made the cake for visiting Kage and Naruto had seen the Sandaime eat it only once, the day the old Kazekage had passed through on a trade meeting when he was little, and yet he vividly remembered the old leader almost passing out with a blissful look on his face with the first spoon.

He'd saved the cake so as not to embarrass himself eating in front of the Kazekage.

And so, Naruto had gobbled his up as quickly as possible. It was every bit as good as he thought. There were three slices of butterfly cake, each interspersed with a thick filling of sweetened double cream of the purest white. The top layer of cream was completed with a fine coating of roasted almonds and peanuts.

It was the best thing he had ever tasted, and he wanted more.

Anko was the only one who saw him mutter something into Haku's ear and point beneath the table. As the dainty boy bent over to check underneath, Naruto had snatched up Haku's cake and was quickly spooning it into his mouth.

Haku cried out in surprise.

"My Cake!" He cried.

Everyone stopped talking once again, pausing from discussing Naruto's death in gory detail and what else Pain might do to his body.

"You stole my cake!"

"Thish ish my cake!" Naruto said between mouthfuls.

"You had your cake already! Naruto, that was my slice and you know it!"

"Just what is-" the Tsuchikage tried to interject.

"I am the Hokage and this is my cake!" Naruto exclaimed, pointing his spoon to the ceiling as if warning the skies.

"Wait, so Pain controls clones using some black rod-things?" Shisui said, attempting to restart their previous important conversation. Anko was doubled over laughing so hard, but something occurred to her then that made all the mirth sort of disappear.

Well not disappear. But it was so profound that it was almost too funny to laugh at.

"Wait, wait. Naruto. Did you become Hokage because you wanted that cake?" She gasped. "Is that why you said yes when we told you they wanted to hold the Council here?"

"Now that you mention it," Shisui muttered, scratching his chin idly. "It _was_ strange that he accepted so quickly."

Naruto peered around frantically, looking for support among the amused, angry and insulted faces around him.

Except Gaara; Gaara had a fiendishly excited glint to his otherwise impassive face, but that only worried Naruto even more.

"You guys suck! This meeting's so boring anyway!"

And before anyone could stop him, be blasted out of the room as if his life depended on it.

"Truth: The Rokudaime Hokage only leads us because of Cake," Shisui said proudly.

The Raikage threw his head back and roared with laughter, tears trailing down his cheeks. Kankurou, Temari and Anko were splitting their sides trying to hold theirs in while Kakashi sort of looked non-plussed.

"Well," he said. "I kind of guessed that already."

XXXXXXX

Once they'd gotten their respective plans ironed out, the military leaders of each major country moved onto lighter topics much to the chagrin of the Tsuchikage. Meanwhile, Anko, Shisui and Kakashi decided their time was better spend looking for their frustrating Hokage and young friend. They found him out back of the Hokage Tower in a small clearing that had been old Sarutobi's favourite place for training his grandson, Konohamaru, during his long tenure as the Sandaime.

Naruto tensed imperceptibly before throwing the three-pronged Kunai his erstwhile father had been famous for. With a thunk, it embedded itself into a large tree heralding a black-and-blond flash that lit up the area briefly. Unfortunately, Naruto hadn't fared so well with his latest attempt of the Hiraishin; for he toppled over with dizziness almost as soon as he reappeared in the shade of the tree.

"Still can't get it 'Ruto?" Shisui called.

Naruto shook his head, attempting to dispel the disconcerting effects on his senses as he turned to regard his friends.

"Gah! It's so bad! Every time I try it, the speed is just too much! It'll be no use in a fight if some guy can easily stab me between the eyes when I use it, will there?" Naruto complained.

"True," Kakashi commented. "But remember, it took your father almost ten whole years to perfect it. The tag on the Hiraishin Kunai is a very complex summoning seal but not the way you're thinking. It also has its drawbacks which you should be aware of."

"Drawbacks?" Anko echoed.

"Exactly," Kakashi returned. "Sensei always told us to be careful where we stuck them because the seal physically yanks the user to it when it pierces a surface. This means that if an object stands between the user and the Kunai, said user will end up crashing through a tree – which would be quite uncomfortable."

"Hey, so are you telling us," Shisui piped up, curiosity piqued. "That all those stories you've told us about Minato giving you and your team his Kunai's to chuck around whenever you want was actually a lie? I mean, what would be the use if he couldn't just appear from anywhere? Why give them to you in the first place?"

"Hmm," Kakashi hummed. "Well, I can probably think of two reasons really. Firstly, because he could somehow track us using them. No doubt his own adjustments to the sealing property. But also because if he caught up to us in time, he could get the drop on the enemy through his line of sight. In fact, I don't think he ever used it in a situation where he couldn't see where they landed. It was just too risky."

"What about at Kannabi bridge?" Anko asked, ignoring the sight tightening of the ex-ANBU's eyes at her prompting. "You said the Yondaime saved you when you threw it and passed out right?"

"Yeah," Kakashi muttered gruffly. "I never asked him about it, but I think he must've arrived just after I got out of the cave where Obito died and decided to see how things would play out.

"At any rate, Naruto," Kakashi continued. "The very nature of the Jutsu means your body experiences speeds that the human body cannot fully comprehend. It wasn't the seal that made Sensei take so long to use it, he was a fuinjutsu master after all. It was the conditioning."

"So you're reflexes have to be up to it huh?" Naruto finally said.

"Yes," Kakashi nodded. "It's why I created the Chidori actually. Sensei warned me not to use it in battle because my eyes couldn't react fast enough to actually strike with it. At the time I thought Sensei could teach me how to gain his sort of reaction speed. I guess the Sharingan gave me a way out back then."

"Did he ever tell you what he did?" Naruto wheedled.

"Sorry Naruto," Kakashi said ruefully. "You're on your own on this one. Maybe Jiraiya-sama could help."

Naruto groaned unhappily, raising himself unsteadily and turning to the tree to yank the Kunai from its place.

"You could always use it while it's still in the air though," Shisui mused, looking thoughtfully at the Kunai in Naruto's hand. "I mean, does it _have _to land for it to work?"

"Probably not, but I wouldn't want to try messing with that seal. Well, unless Jiraiya-sama wants to take a look at it," Kakashi intimated.

"Reflexes huh?" Naruto considered. "Wait just a damn sec!"

Excitedly, he raced back to the middle of the clearing, tossing his utility belt to the side before relaxing into a slouch and raising his arms until they were parallel to the ground.

"Naruto, what-"

"Shh, lemme try something here," he whispered urgently, eyes closed.

Slowly, he began to spin like a top, faster and faster until he was nought but a blur. It was almost uncanny, the trio thought, how a peaceful summer's day could certainly turn so chaotic due to the presence of a single individual. A dull roar rose in pitch to mimic the speed of Naruto's rotation, Wind Chakra visibly screaming around his body as it propelled him further, kicking up all manner of debris as he almost literally drilled into the ground.

And then he suddenly stopped, quivering like an arrow slammed into the ground, centred in a deep gouge up to waist level. But his eyes were alight with delight.

"He was teachin' me that all along!" he gasped. "Man, he knew exactly what I needed! How-"

"Naruto, what are you talking about?" Shisui questioned bewilderingly, still awed at the blatant show of power not moments before.

"The Ojii-san I met in Mori!" Naruto said haltingly, struggling to pull in enough oxygen to voice his thoughts. "He couldn't speak, but somehow he knew I wanted to train and he used to draw these funny drawings with his stick and-"

"NARUTO!" Anko cut in. "Calm the heck down and get to the point!"

Naruto gulped in air, steadying himself before continuing.

"See, Jiji couldn't speak. So when he found out I wanted to train and I was a Shinobi, he came up with some exercises for me to try."

"And that was one of them?" Kakashi asked.

"Yeah," Naruto confirmed. "It was. He used to tap me when he thought I'd had enough. But don't you see? This, this is what I need!"

"What are you talkin' about 'Ruto?" Anko enquired in confusion.

But Naruto didn't reply, too excited to be delayed from his seeming epiphany. Jogging over to his fallen pouch, he pulled the Kunai from its resting place and tossed it, handle first, to Kakashi.

"Chuck that at the tree when I'm spinning alright?" he said before returning to his gouged circle of earth.

Sharing a glance, the three friends shrugged and Kakashi prepared to throw the Hiraishin Kunai. Naruto quickly picked up speed before Kakashi thought he'd gotten fast enough. Deftly pitching the Kunai at a random tree, Kakashi pondered on the effect of the technique Naruto was using and how it would change by being yanked at high speed in a linear direction. Simple mechanics dictated that his spin would lead him straight into the thing, especially if he wasn't focusing on stopping as he usually was and that always left him disorientated.

But Naruto, as he was wont to do, defied all known laws of mechanics as a flash of yellow left his quivering in the shade of the targeted tree, eyes slightly vacant but a happy smile stretching his features regardless.

"He did it," Shisui breathed.

"Or so it would seem…" Kakashi returned.

"THIS IS IT!" Naruto exploded, turning to them with a manic grin. "I just have to get used to the speeds involved right? I can do this!"

"I see," Kakashi acquiesced. "But you can't do that every time you'd need the Jutsu, it's too time consuming for a pinch."

"True, but with practice?" Anko shot back.

"That's what I was thinkin' too Anko-nee!" he said happily.

"Who was that Ojii-san?" Shisui asked sceptically, voicing the question everyone had been thinking, even Naruto.

"I dunno. But whoever he really is," Naruto sobered. "He's a genius."

Xxxxxxxxxxx

By the end of the day, the five Kage had come to a majority on what the likely plan of action would be to deal with the looming threat of Akatsuki's leader. Much to everyone's dismay, Naruto had declared that since Pain was after him, it was his business and no-one else's. That had earned him further respect in his fellow Kage's eyes, even Oonoki, but left them feeling unsatisfied.

Gaara had then announced his plan to seek out Akatsuki's base of operation in order to destroy it, although his exact words had something to do with sand and lots of it. The other three leaders had quickly jumped in and pledged their own contingents to the cause. As a final insult, Naruto had returned to find more cake on the table and upon attempting to eat it, had realised Gaara had purposefully filled his mouth with Sand.

The Suna delegation had zipped out of the gates to Konoha in stitches with an irate Naruto screaming after them and alternately attempting to rid his tongue of the stale, dry taste lingering behind.

Oonoki had slipped away grumbling, followed by his happily waving bodyguards leaving the leaders of Hi, Kaminari and Kiri to say their goodbyes and go their respective ways, which for Naruto, meant his flat.

"Well gaki, it was a pleasure doing business as always," Zabuza rumbled. "You just tell that perverted Sensei of yours that I said hi."

Naruto shook his proffered hand. "I'll definitely tell him that, Sawtooth," he grinned. "You take care Haku!"

The two waved as they set off. Well, Haku waved, Zabuza seemed to be trying to chop Naruto's head off if he'd remembered to use his Zanbatou.

"We've got your back whenever you need us," the Raikage said, his imposing form stepping up to hug the boy. "Konoha's gonna be a fun place to watch."

"Yeah Naruto, just be careful not to kick any rocks, ok?" Omoi warned, only to be slapped upside the head.

"Stay safe kiddo," Samui smiled as she touched him on the shoulder and leapt for the trees, her team following her. Bee and Yugito caught up the rear, the former having slapped Naruto on the back as he passed and the latter favouring him with a small smile.

"My band of misfits, eh? Seems like you got your own, Naruto," and with that parting shot, the Raikage took off after them.

"He called _us_ misfits?!" Anko stated indignantly. "We're _normal_ compared to those buffoons!"

"Omoi's a buffoon," Kakashi said. "But Samui and Karui are not to be trifled with."

"Yeah," Shisui agreed. "Except Karui's so blatantly got a crush on him! I won't deny Samui though. That woman's a beast on the battlefield."

"Or so they say," Anko muttered.

"Jealous?" Shisui smirked.

"Yeah right," Anko snorted. "I could so totally take her."

"Sure you could!" Shisui crowed triumphantly, poking her in the side.

"I could! Easily too! What could she do without that sword of hers? Nothing if snakes have stolen it!"

"Give it a rest you two," Kakashi cut in. I'm sure they're strong enough to give each of us trouble. Well…"

"Except Naruto," Shisui chuckled. "If they're not squashed in a moment, they'd be blown up or buried or drilled into or railgunned into oblivion."

"Hey! You don't get to cuss me when I'm stronger than you!" Naruto cried.

"Why not?" Shisui said. "I mean you'd never do any of those things to us, right?"

Anko visibly gulped and Naruto noticed, a devilish smile spreading across his features.

"There was this one time…"

"WHAT?!" Shisui asked, alarmed. "He did something to you Anko?"

"When he first figured out that dratted Railgun thing of his…well, after his cutlery stopped attacking him!" Anko chortled.

"Aww, Anko-nee! You promised not to say anything," Naruto whined.

The four of them turned back to go home, their light-hearted banter giving way to chuckles as the sun slowly set behind them. What would come, would come. And when it did, they'd be ready for it.

That they could guarantee.

ZZZZZZZZZZ

…..

Don't kill me!

So yeah, I've been humongously busy for the last year or so. In fact, first my final year of education started, then I thought I might have to stop writing altogether, in fact, I DID stop writing altogether…

And then I read this one story called The Girl With Red Hair….

And suddenly the urge to write was so overpowering that I opened up this chapter after ten whole months and actually made some progress on it.

So yeah, I'm back in the game for now. How long? Who knows. But I'm going to try and finish this series with all my heart, and I think it shows in this chapter. While many of you may have noticed my slow loss of interest in the Naruto Anime and Manga, the characters I've built here…let's just say I'm emotionally invested and I want them to reach their end just as I started and shaped them into how I saw them all this time.

I hope I can share that all with you.

Bee out.


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